


time, wondrous time

by katierosefun



Series: to these memories [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Everyone Hugs, Everyone lives, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fix-It, Gen, Happy Ending, One Big Happy Family, everyone's so happy and precious
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:28:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 35,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27106474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katierosefun/pseuds/katierosefun
Summary: After the war and the politics are all said and done, some more things change. And this time, it’s all good changes. (Or: Anakin becomes the galaxy’s most renowned engineer. Rex becomes a godfather to way too many people. Ahsoka learns how to be a teacher. Obi-Wan learns how to kind of be a dad. Padmé runs for Chancellor. And Luke and Leia are just starting to learn that their family is truly, wonderfully, chaotic. And they gleefully contribute to the chaos.)[set in the ‘to these memories’ verse, although ‘to these memories’ doesn’t necessarily have to be read in order to understand the gist of this story!]**to be updated weekly.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker & Luke Skywalker, CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano, Leia Organa & Anakin Skywalker, Leia Organa & Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Satine Kryze, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Series: to these memories [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2042953
Comments: 123
Kudos: 353





	1. Lessons Learned

**Author's Note:**

> hello, hello! if you are here from to these memories, hello again! 
> 
> if you are here for just some pure, wholesome everything-is-happy-au family things, hello to you too! Let's get started!

" _Luke, you're going to be late!_ "

"Coming!"

Luke shoved the markers in his backpack and stumbled out the door, only to hit Anakin's shins. With a small grunt, Luke staggered backwards, and he would have fallen on the ground if his father didn't catch him on time.

"There you are," Anakin said, laughing a little as he steadied Luke. "Come on, your sister's already at the door."

"I was _coming_ ," Luke said, shouldering his backpack. He looked back at his bedroom anxiously, trying to remember if he had gotten everything. But all he saw were really things that no kindergartner would need to bring to class—not the plush loth cat that Auntie Soka gave him for his birthday, and not the small stack of picture books Uncle Obi-Wan had given him just last weekend. And Luke had originally tried to put those things in his backpack last night—that was, until his parents had told him that they probably wouldn't all fit, and, besides, his loth cat and picture books were probably safer at home anyways.

So really, there wasn't much five year olds really needed for school except for...well. A backpack for the formalities of having a backpack.

But Luke didn't really know that yet, and he had dutifully packed in pencils and colored markers into his backpack anyways, because he had seen his mother do the same whenever she was about to go out to work. He would have taken her datapad too, except that was strictly Mommy's Stuff.

"Okay," Luke said finally, turning back around to Anakin. "I'm ready."

"Then in that case," Anakin said, nudging Luke forward by the shoulder, "see if you can race Leia to the elevator. First one who gets there chooses dessert."

That just about did it. Luke sprinted down the hallway—which was semi-cluttered with pillows and blankets from the fort that he had built with his sister last night—and down through the kitchen, where his mother was just zipping up lunchboxes.

"Luke!" Padmé called, and Luke obediently backtracked a few steps, ran up to his mother. He hopped up to give her a quick good morning kiss and get his good morning hug—good morning kisses and good morning hugs were supposed to make the day better, and Luke figured that on his first day of kindergarten, he would need all the luck he could get.

For one, he wasn't going to be around Leia anymore, which was strange for him to wrap his mind around. He had always been in the same room as Leia, back when they were babies and their version of school had always been listening to their parents and Uncle Obi-Wan and Auntie Soka and Uncle Rex's occasional lessons. (Luke liked Obi-Wan's lessons best. He spoke differently from his parents, and he never seemed to run out of stories about anything.)

But _this_ would be a little different. Being in a different classroom, having different grown-ups around him...different people in general. Luke hoped that he would be liked. He hoped he would like the new people.

So, again: he could use all the luck he could get.

And what would make his day even luckier would be if he could outrun Leia to the speeder for once. He hopped down from his mother's arms, and giving her a quick wave over his shoulder, he sprinted to the door—and sure enough, he found his sister already leaning against the opposite wall, her backpack settled over her shoulders.

"Where are you…" Leia started, but Luke was already opening the door.

"First one chooses dessert!" Luke said over his shoulder, and he bolted into the hallway. A few guards startled as Luke came barreling down—he managed to chirp a hello to them, and he just barely heard a hello back before he was focusing back on his run.

"Wait!" Leia shouted behind him.

"No waiting!" Luke said gleefully, looking over his shoulder. Leia was already running after him, her hair coming loose of the careful braids that their mother had arranged last night. "No— _ooph_ —" He hit the ground with a hard thump, and he felt something scrape against both his chin and his knees.

"Luke!" Luke heard Leia's footsteps near, and really, Luke was just disappointed that his sister had already caught up to him. He had been _really_ hoping to outrun her this time, because all the last times they had raced, Leia had managed to run faster than him. "Daddy! Luke fell!"

"Did not!" Luke protested, scrambling back up to his feet. Still, he lifted a hand up to his chin and rubbed it ruefully. He pulled his hand away to feel something wet and sticky, and then he heard Leia come to a slow stop next to him.

Leia took one look at the blood on Luke's hand and said louder, " _Daddy!_ "

Luke winced, lifting his hand to his chin again. He scratched a little at the skin, felt something rough there. _Huh_. He looked at Leia, who grimaced. "I don't think you should touch it," she said, slapping Luke's hand down.

"It feels funny," Luke replied defensively.

"That's because it's _bleeding_ ," Leia said.

" _Bleeding_?"

Both Luke and Leia started and turned as Anakin came striding through the door. Only a moment passed before Anakin took in the mess, and upon seeing Luke's chin, his face fell. "Aw, Luke…"

"Sorry," Luke said. "I was just racing—"

"No, I know," Anakin winced. "Let's just—no, Luke, _don't touch it_ —"

"I told you so!" Leia said.

Luke made a face, but he dropped his hand from his chin as Anakin walked towards them. "Am I in trouble?"

"No," Anakin said, grimacing. "But I might be."

As if on cue, Luke heard his mother calling, "Anakin, you forgot the kids' lunchboxes!"

Luke, Leia, and Anakin all looked at each other.

"Daddy's in trouble," Leia said solemnly.

"Yes, thank you, Leia," Anakin said. He took both Luke and Leia's hands, and they turned to walk back down the hallway. Luke wanted to point out that his hand was still a little sticky, but his father didn't seem to mind, not as they walked back into the apartment.

Padmé was already waiting at the doorway with two lunchboxes. And when they walked into the apartment, Padmé took one look at the scrape on Luke's chin and sighed.

"Did you tell them to race again?" she asked, setting the lunchboxes down on the table.

"Well, you said we were running late…" Anakin started.

Padmé looked at Anakin. "Choose your next words carefully."

"I'll get the bandages."

"Wonderful," Padmé said. She kneeled in front of Luke and pressed her lips together, turning his face lightly to one side, then the other. "You need to be _careful_."

"I was!" Luke said.

"He wasn't," Leia chimed in. "He kept looking back."

"I was _not_ ," Luke said furiously, turning around to his sister. Leia only shrugged her shoulders before sticking her lunchbox in her backpack, then Luke's in his.

Luke turned back around to his mother, who only raised an eyebrow at him.

"Okay," he said after a beat. "I looked. But I was still careful!"

"Mmhm," Padmé said. She tugged Luke towards the kitchen and picked him up. He found himself sitting on the edge of the counter a moment later, and then Padmé turned on the tap. She splashed the water around a few times, and then, satisfied with the temperature, she rubbed some soap over her fingertips and turned to Luke. "Stay still, okay?"

Luke nodded.

Padmé smiled and dabbed the soap and water over Luke's chin. He winced, automatically squirming a little at the slight sting. "Come on, you said you'd stay still."

"I'm trying," Luke said.

"I know you are," Padmé said. "But you're just gonna have to try for a few more seconds, okay?"

Luke winced at the soap and water again. His ankles knocked a few times against the cupboards underneath him, but just as his mother promised, the soap and water was eventually dabbed away with a towel.

"Here we go," Anakin said now, walking into the kitchen. He set the box of bandages next to Luke. "Leia, do you wanna help Luke pick out—"

"Yes," Leia said automatically, and in the next second, she was sitting on the counter too. Anakin shifted the box of bandages between the two of them, and Luke looked down at the neatly assorted stacks of bandages. There was a cluster that were just plain white—some of them were thicker ("bandages for really, really, really bad things," Anakin had once told Luke when he asked), but the bandages Luke and Leia were really interested in were the more colorful and patterned ones.

"Alright, lift your chin for me," Anakin said, picking out the cream. Luke lifted his chin, let his father dab just a bit of the cream on before Leia plucked out a silver bandage decorated with stars. When Luke nodded his approval, Leia stuck the bandaid on his chin with as careful hands that a five year old could possibly have.

"Great job," Anakin said, snapping the medical kit shut. "Now. Let's _actually_ go."

"Don't run," Padmé warned.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Anakin said, helping Luke and Leia down.

Luke heard his mother let out a short breath—but when he looked up, he saw his parents exchange quick kisses. Their own version of good luck-good morning kisses, that was. And then Anakin was scooting Luke and Leia along. "Do you two have your backpacks? Lunchboxes? Shoes on? Yes?"

"Yes," Luke and Leia chorused.

"Top marks for the day," Anakin said. "That's it, no school."

" _Anakin_ ," Padmé called.

"Just joking, guys," Anakin said, nudging Luke and Leia again. "Come on."

\--

They made it to the school eventually—and they were late, Luke realized, because his father was mumbling something about just that. He let himself be unbuckled from the speeder, hopped down next to Leia as Anakin looked around the school.

"Okay," he said after a little while. "Front desk—that's where we start. Front desk…come on, guys." He stuck out his hands, and Luke automatically looped his hand into his father's. Leia, he knew, was on their father's other side.

They walked through the front doors.

And the first thing Luke noticed was that everything was a lot bigger than they were back home. The _front desk_ , as his father called it, seemed to loom before Luke, and behind the desk, an elderly gentleman was typing away at a computer.

Anakin cleared his throat.

The man looked up from the screen with bleary eyes.

"Morning," Anakin said.

The man grunted. "Is it?"

Luke had the feeling that wasn't exactly how regular grown-up conversations were supposed to go. The old man's voice scared him a little, all rough and gravelly, and Luke found himself squeezing his father's hand a little harder. Luke hoped this man wasn't his teacher.

"We're a little late," Anakin said. "Just looking to drop my kids off to their classes, so if you've got the names…"

The man mumbled something under his breath, looking at the computer. "Names?"

"Luke and Leia Amidala-Skywalker," Anakin replied.

"Amidala-Skywalker, eh?" the man mumbled. "Like that Senator and the Jedi fella?"

Luke looked up at his father, whose face had gone a little funny.

"Sure," he said after a little while. "Like them."

The man looked at Anakin. "Huh," he said after a while, and then he looked back at his computer. "Well, Luke and Leia Amidala-Skywalker. Here they are. Leia's off with Mr. Basout—Luke's off with Ms. Parat. Kindergarten classrooms organized alphabetically on the second floor." He looked back at the computer, the audience clearly over.

Luke looked back up at his father. For a moment, Anakin looked like he wanted to say something—but then, clearly thinking better of it, he just shook his head and looked down at Luke and Leia. "Come on, you two," he said. "Let's go find your teachers."

And they did find their teachers. They dropped Leia off first, since her classroom was the closest.

And Luke found something a little funny at that point too: Leia's teacher, Mr. Basout, just blinked at Anakin a few times, and then he started stammering about how "oh, no problem at all about Leia being late, we're just glad that she made it here". Leia only looked at Luke once, and she just rolled her eyes: something that Luke noticed she had perfected over the last few weeks.

"Bye, Daddy!" Leia said loudly, and she yanked at Anakin's hand.

"Bye, princess," Anakin replied, and he obediently ducked his head so Leia could kiss him on the cheek.

With that duty completed, Leia adjusted her backpack over her shoulders, tossed Luke a confident little smile, and marched right into the classroom. Luke, meanwhile, watched from his father's side as Leia plopped herself down at the first table she saw.

"Noon pick-up time today?" his father was saying now.

"Yes," Mr. Basout replied. "Noon. Noon every other day—do you have a schedule? I could get you a schedule."

"No," Anakin said hastily. "We've got a schedule at home—I just wanted to make sure—"

"Of course, of course—"

"Well," Anakin said, tugging at Luke's hand. "I've got to drop this one off to Ms. Parat's classroom…"

"If you don't know where her class is—"

"No," Anakin said quickly. "I think I can find my way. Nice meeting you."

And then Anakin and Luke were both hurrying down the hallway, and Luke had the itchy feeling that maybe the school year was going to be different in ways more than one. Luke wasn't really sure how he felt about that, but he decided that things couldn't be _too_ terrible, because at least his classroom wasn't _too_ far from Leia's, and at least he would _only_ be here for a few hours. That was what his parents had told him last night.

Just a few hours—even though a few hours felt like a forever, Luke supposed that was better than spending the entire _day_ in this odd little place where odd people talked oddly to his father.

Ms. Parat, though, didn't seem to really speak as oddly as the man at the desk or Mr. Basout, because when she opened the door, she said little more than, "There's an open seat by the window. Come in when you're ready." And then the door had snapped shut in their faces.

"Is this what school _always_ supposed to be like?" Luke asked after a moment. He looked up at his father.

Anakin's face softened. He knelt down next to Luke and, straightening the straps of his backpack, said, "Not always, I don't think."

"Seems...interesting," Luke said. "It's weird."

Anakin let out a quiet laugh. "You're right," he said. He stood up. "So you'll have to tell me about it when I pick you up, okay?"

Luke nodded. "Okay." He looked at the door and squared his shoulders. "I'm ready!"

He heard his father laugh again, and then he pushed open the door.

\--

Luke discovered multiple things about kindergarten that day: firstly, that Ms. Parat said "ms." like " _mizzzzz_ ", and secondly, that lying down on the rug during storytime was okay, and thirdly, that his classmates liked swapping things like markers and pencils, and Luke liked swapping them, too. He swapped them now, as Ms. Parat passed around little cards that would mark their seats for the first week of school.

"I like your blue," a boy said politely to Luke.

Luke looked down at his marker. "Thanks," he said. He looked at the boy's array of markers, and, after a little while, he said, "I like your orange."

They looked at each other and decidedly scooted their markers together.

After a little while, their markers were mixed together to the point that they couldn't quite remember whose markers were whose, but Luke decided he didn't mind, and the boy sitting next to him didn't seem to mind either.

"I'm Luke," Luke said after a moment.

"Ezra," the boy replied.

They smiled at each other.

\--

Other things Luke learned about kindergarten: it was a little different from what his usual day back home would be. There weren't any floating or flying lessons, but there was a storytime and an outdoors time, and Luke liked both of those when he was at home. Ezra seemed to like outdoors time, too, and the two of them spent their time trying to climb one of the short trees in the courtyard.

"What are you two _doing_?"

Luke turned to see Leia walking over. Her class, too, was let out for outdoors time, and behind her, Luke could see Mr. Basout and Ms. Parat talking nearby the entrance to the courtyard. A cluster of children were bouncing a ball amongst themselves, while another were jumping around some chalk-drawn circles.

"Trying to climb," Luke said. To prove his point, he grabbed one of the lower branches and stuck his feet against the trunk. He made it two little steps before his arms grew too heavy, and he had to drop himself back down on the ground.

"That's not how you _climb_ ," Leia said.

Ezra looked at Leia. "Then how do _you_ climb?"

Leia huffed, and she grabbed one of the branches and hoisted herself up. She wobbled a little bit, and for a moment, Luke thought she would fall, but she just stuck her foot in another hold of the branches. A moment later, she was clumsily making her way up to one of the branches above Luke's head. She really shouldn't have gone up there too fast—but she was suddenly another branch higher, looking absolutely pleased with herself. "See?"

Luke scowled. He grabbed at the branch and, ignoring his sister's laugh, he followed her movements. The bark scraped against his palms, and a leaf fell in his hair, but he didn't really mind. In another moment, he had his stomach on the branch, and he was looking over at Leia, who had crawled down the end to give him some room.

"Okay," Luke said. "I get it." And then he turned down to Ezra, who was peering up at the Skywalker twins and clearly waiting his turn. "Come on!"

Ezra's face lit up. And then he, too, was scrambling up the branch until all three of them were sitting together, with their feet swaying a little in time with a passing breeze.

"I wish we had class outside," Ezra said.

"Me too," Luke said, looking down at their feet. He watched an ant crawl around the branch.

"Me three," Leia agreed. Holding on to the branch above them, she slowly started to stand up. Her knees wobbled again as she tried to keep her balance, and then she looked triumphantly down at Luke. "Bet they can't find us."

Luke looked at the teachers. They were still speaking, although now at a different section of the courtyard.

Luke felt the branch bounce a little, and he looked up in time to see his sister already making her way above him. She clung to the branch with her hands and feet, belly down.

Luke looked at the teachers again. They still weren't looking.

"What are you still doing there?" Leia asked.

Luke sighed. He had been practicing that specific sigh, the kind that he would hear his mother or Uncle Obi-Wan give whenever his father said or did something that Luke apparently wasn't allowed to know about. It was a funny little sound, and perhaps an even funnier sound both to and from a five year old, but Luke was rather proud of it.

"Fine," he said, and he stood up, too. "Are you coming, Ezra?"

But when he turned around, Ezra was already standing against the tree trunk, looking for another branch to grab ahold of.

 _Fine_ , Luke thought, and he took hold of the branch above him. He started to pull himself up, his hands straining from the sudden pressure. He set a foot down on the branch he was standing on, readjusted himself so that he had a better grip. He could hear Leia shuffling around above him.

Luke tried to get up, realized that wasn't the right way either. He frowned and moved to the side. Maybe if... _ah-ha_ , _there_ was a better grip.

Luke swung a leg over the branch and was just about to push himself up when he heard a dull crack.

He didn't really know what was happening next except he fell back on the branch below himself with a soft _thud_ , and then he heard a sharp cry as his sister lost her grip—

And Luke scrambled over the branch, reached just as his sister flew past him, and—

So the funny thing about his home schooling was that he had, in fact, had his own share of floating lessons, and he had mostly done that with apples and his markers and pencils, but he figured that maybe—

He heard a quiet gasp below him, and he looked down to find both Mr. Basout and Ms. Parat staring in half-awe, half-shock as Leia hovered an inch or two above the ground.

 _Oops_ , Luke thought, and he dropped Leia. His sister landed with a soft _thump_ , and then she was scrambling up to her feet.

After a moment that seemed a little too long, Ms. Parat said, "Get down from the tree right this _instant_."

\--

And yet more things Luke learned about kindergarten: climbing trees was not okay if there wasn't a grown-up watching him, and most of his classmates couldn't do the floaty thing, actually, so it was all very confusing for the other children in Mr. Basout and Ms. Parat's classes to see Leia Amidala-Skywalker hovering in the air.

A few children gave Luke funny looks towards the end of the day because of that, and Luke caught Ezra looking at him a little funny too.

That didn't really feel good.

And what also didn't really feel good was listening to Ms. Parat and Mr. Basout tell Anakin that his children had, in fact, already broken a few rules.

Leia shuffled a little bit next to Luke. They exchanged a guilty look, and at the same time, they looked down at their shoes.

It was a long while before the teachers finally stopped talking, and Luke heard his father say something that sounded a little grown up, but when he looked, Anakin's mouth was twitching. "Thanks for the heads up," he said. "Got it. Careful. They'll be careful."

Luke caught his father's eye. Anakin winked.

And Luke had a feeling he wasn't, in fact, in trouble.

Which was proven the second the three walked out of the school, because as soon as they were out of earshot, Anakin asked, "So _what_ did you two do again?"

"I climbed a tree," Leia said. "Really fast."

"And then she fell," Luke reported.

"Only a _little_ —"

"Because I _caught_ you!"

"How far? How long?" Anakin asked, opening the speeder door.

"Dunno. A few seconds?"

Anakin grinned. "A few seconds. _Wow_. _Wow_ ," he said again, shaking his head. "I should have seen it!"

"You're not mad?" Luke asked hesitantly as Anakin put him in the speeder.

Anakin grinned. "No way," he said, rubbing a hand over Luke's hair. "Not mad at _all._ "

He set Leia in the seat next to Luke and added, "Just wait until your mom hears about this! Or your uncles or your aunt—you kids are _geniuses_ —"

Luke looked at Leia.

They both grinned, listening to their father's excited voice all the way home.

\--

"And then apparently, Leia _ran_ up the tree, go on Leia—"

Leia bolted up to the top of the couch, her hands on her hips in a very triumphant, very proud manner that she had obviously copied from her parents.

"And then when she fell, Luke _caught_ her—"

On cue, Leia leapt down from the couch belly-first. Luke, who was already sitting at the arm of the couch, very dramatically reached out his hand as she hit the couch pillow.

"And ladies and gentlemen, the crowd goes _wild_ —"

"Oh, Anakin," Obi-Wan said wearily, shaking his head. But when Luke looked, his uncle was smiling a little, and so was Uncle Rex and Auntie Soka and Padmé.

"Sounds like you two had _quite_ the adventure," Padmé said, sitting down on the couch.

"It was _awesome_ ," Leia said, crawling onto her mother's lap. "And Daddy says Luke and I can practice—"

"Did he now?" Padmé said.

Anakin grinned. "Not from trees _all_ the time," he said. " _But_ …"

"We'll be careful," Luke said.

"Exactly," Anakin added.

"Careful, he says," Obi-Wan said. "Mark that down, everyone."

"I don't know," Ahsoka said, laughing into her glass. "Sounds like a good idea to me."

"You would," Rex muttered.

Ahsoka grinned. "Well, who knows—maybe they'll start practicing on you—"

"Don't give them any ideas—"

Leia's eyes lit up. "Can we start practicing on you guys?"

"See, now it's _guys_ — _plural_ ," Rex said, gesturing to Leia. "Would you like to be the first test subject?"

As the rest of the party's conversation dissolved into laughter, Luke curled up by his mother's side and simply listened. He felt his father settle down next to him eventually, and when Luke fell asleep later, he realized that he had learned some other things: first, that Leia and he were wonderful actors, at least, according to Uncle Obi-Wan, and second, that apparently his father and Auntie Soka used to throw Uncle Rex around, and third—and this was the most important bit of all—that his family would never, ever be truly disappointed in him.


	2. Like the Time...

Leia knew that first and foremost, she was Leia Amidala-Skywalker Which perhaps sounded a little redundant, but her parents had always told her that more than anything, it was always the most important for her to know who she was.

But first and foremost, she was Leia Amidala-Skywalker, and being Leia Amidala-Skywalker meant multiple things. Being Leia Amidala-Skywalker meant that she got to go to her father's workshop and help build and fix things like ships and droids. Being Leia Amidala-Skywalker also meant that she got to go to her mother's office and pass her datapads full of important speeches and letters. And besides all that, being Leia Amidala-Skywalker meant that she was never bored, because she had a twin brother and an aunt and many uncles to keep her on top of her toes.

So she knew who she was and what she had.

She just didn't really think that would mean other children or other grown-ups, frankly, would dislike who she was and what she had.

But of course, she wasn't to learn that now: right now, Leia Amidala-Skywalker was completely oblivious to what she was going to learn in a few hours. In a few hours, she would be announcing to her kindergarten class that she was chosen to be class monitor by Mr. Basout, which meant, among many things, that she was in charge of class duties. Like taking attendance and making sure her classmates were staying in line and had their fingers to their lips when they walked in the hallways.

If she was being honest—which she was, because her father told her that she had a funny little knack of being honest, Leia wasn't really sure why she was chosen to be class monitor. She didn't think she was that much different from the other children, and if she was being _very_ honest—which she _knew_ she was, because her mother told her that she was proud of having a _very honest_ daughter, Leia thought that Mr. Basout was still displeased with her. After all, only a few weeks had passed since both Leia and her brother had gotten into trouble for whatever it was that happened at the courtyard. And while Luke and Leia had been careful to not do the same thing in class again, Leia still found herself finding other ways to be entertained.

For one, Leia had taken to noticing the time some of her uncles passed the school. It was easy to spot her uncles, honestly—and Leia's father and mother had told her very seriously that if anything bad ever happened to her and she couldn't _call Daddy or Uncle Obi-Wan or Auntie Soka the special way_ , she should always try to find one of her many, many, many clone uncles. She didn't really know _how_ many clone uncles she had—just that apparently, when she was a baby, she had once met all of them at once, and that apparently, they had all tried to give her names that her father sometimes called her when he was trying to be silly.

But Leia mostly took to distracting herself that way: waving at her uncles, who almost always waved back through the window—Uncle Jesse had a nice habit of making a face at Mr. Basout's back whenever he walked by. Some days, Leia sometimes spotted Auntie Soka, who seemed to always know to come by the school near the later half of the day, right when Mr. Basout taught math. Leia was less excited by learning how to count blocks than she was by the flowers that Auntie Soka floated to her through the open window.

And maybe she really shouldn't be distracted—but Leia didn't particularly care for school, because it was all too simple for her anyways. She didn't think she'd make a very good class monitor because of that—but her mother had been proud of her when she said that Mr. Basout had chosen her for class monitor, and if her mother was happy, then Leia supposed that meant there was _something_ good about it.

Leia slid off her bed now, padded over to where her clothes had been hung by her door. She clumsily slipped on her clothes, tossed her pajamas on her bed. She looked at herself in the mirror once, ran a brush through her hair a few times. The brush stuck in her curls, and Leia frowned, yanking once at the brush. She yanked harder than she'd liked, and Leia winced, dropping the brush against the nightstand. Bother with the brush.

Otherwise satisfied with her appearance, Leia walked out of her bedroom. She found her father already plating food, Luke and her mother and—

"Uncle Obi-Wan!" Leia said happily.

Sure enough, it was Obi-Wan sitting at the kitchen table across from Luke. Obi-Wan looked up and smiled at Leia. "Good morning, young one," he said as Leia bounded over. "Sleep well?"

"Yup," Leia said cheerfully. She rushed up to Obi-Wan, wrapped her little arms around his neck in a quick hug. "I didn't know you were here!"

"I came in very quietly," Obi-Wan replied, gently poking Leia's nose. "Like a mouse."

"More like an oversized cat," Anakin quipped, setting down a plate of eggs and toast. "Leia, breakfast."

Leia grinned and, dutifully walking over to her chair, she said, "I think I want to be a cat."

"You'd make a wonderful cat," Anakin said. "But I think I'd like you better as a human."

"Humans don't have to go to school," Leia said right before kissing her father's waiting cheek. "And humans don't have to be class monitors."

"Ah, yes," Obi-Wan said. "I heard about that. Not excited?"

"No," Leia replied, picking up her fork. "Sounds like busy work."

Obi-Wan smiled. "And what's busy work, then?"

"Silly things," Leia said, sticking a forkful of scrambled eggs in her mouth. "Like making sure everyone's in class on time. And making sure everyone's listening to Mr. Basout talk about math or reading boring stories."

"Is that so," Obi-Wan said.

Leia nodded rigorously. "Daddy already teaches me math," she said, "and Mommy already teaches me how to write, and you tell much better stories." She paused. " _And_ everyone teaches me how to do the other cool things too, so I really don't need school."

Obi-Wan smiled. "It certainly seems like you've thought this out."

Leia nodded proudly.

"Is she talking about not going to school again?" Padmé asked, walking into the room. She was already dressed in work clothes, although Leia noticed she still had a brush in her hand. Leia didn't bother moving as her mother positioned herself behind her. "Because she's certainly given us this spiel before. Although she's definitely elaborating now."

"You've taught her well," Obi-Wan noted as Padmé started brushing Leia's hair.

"See?" Leia asked, trying to swivel herself around so she could look at her mother. "Uncle Obi-Wan agrees."

"Mm," Padmé said. "I'm sure he does."

Leia jutted out her bottom lip and swiveled back around to the table. She found Luke shooting her a somewhat sympathetic look, because really, grown-ups could be so _silly_ , thinking that everything they said was absolutely true, when Leia was pretty sure she had a good point herself.

Luke's little acknowledgement in Leia's frustration made her feel a little better, she supposed, but she figured that she would have truly felt much, much better if the grown-ups actually started taking her seriously.

"I'm being serious," she said after her mother braided the rest of her hair. "I don't _wanna_ be a class monitor. It's boring."

"You didn't even try it yet," Padmé said gently. "You never know if you don't try. Right, Anakin?"

"I don't know," Anakin said. "She's got a point. Why do five year olds _need_ to be monitored by other five year olds? Just sounds like a good way to get kids to hate each other."

" _Thank_ you," Leia said.

"I'm sure that's not what class monitors are for," Padmé said smoothly, setting down the hairbrush. "And no one will hate you for being a class monitor, Leia. You don't need to tattle, just do simple things, like you said before—maybe take attendance, maybe tell your classmates to stop talking when the teacher's talking. It'll be fun."

Leia frowned down at her eggs.

\--

Leia waved her mother good-bye as her father pulled away from the Senate Building. In front of her, she could hear Obi-Wan and Anakin discussing quietly amongst themselves, though she couldn't quite hear over the dull roar of the speeders around her. She turned to Luke instead, who was absent-mindedly playing with a toy speeder.

"You're gonna drop it," Leia said after a little while.

"Am not."

"You will," Leia said, propping her chin up on her hand as she turned back around to look at the other speeders around them. She saw Luke lower his toy ut of the corner of her eye, though, and she felt a little pleased at that.

"You're mad," Luke said after a while.

Leia kept looking out at the speeders.

And then she felt something nudge her arm, and she turned to find Luke's toy speeder sitting right next to her on the seat.

"It'll be okay," Luke said when Leia looked at him. He smiled cheerfully. "I think you'll be okay."

Leia managed a small smile. She picked up Luke's toy speeder and started to hand it back to him, but he shook his head.

"For good luck," he said.

Leia paused, and then she set the toy speeder on her lap.

\--

Leia walked into class still holding onto the toy speeder. She had waved goodbye to Anakin and Obi-Wan as they pulled away from the school, and for a moment, she had wanted very badly for them to turn the speeder around and just stay, but in another moment, the classes were being rounded up, and Leia was being ushered into the actual building.

Leia felt a little more foolish as she carried the speeder around with herself, but Luke had given it to her, and she wasn't about to lose her brother's favorite toy. (Actually, LUke had a lot of favorite toys. He called everything his favorite toy purely for the sake of the fact that someone had given it to him.)

It wasn't exactly that Leia missed her father and her mother and her uncle when she was in school—although that was certainly a part of it. But Leia felt...strange whenever she was surrounded by these other children who sometimes looked at her funny, and she felt especially stranger whenever he was around her teacher, who seemed a little more intent on teaching such useless, boring material than he was with actually doing anything even semi-interesting.

"Class," Mr. Basout now said as the class filtered into the room. "I'm pleased to announce that for the next week, Leia's going to be our class monitor."

Leia stood next to Mr. Bassout's desk, still holding onto Luke's toy speeder. Her classmates threw her curious looks, but then they turned back to Mr. Bassout as he pointed to the board behind himself.

"Every week, we'll switch class monitors," he said. "Does anyone remember what I said about class monitor last week?"

A hand shot up.

"Yes, Evalynd?"

"Class monitors are supposed to help Mr. Bassout with the small but important things," Evalynd said matter-of-factly. Leia distinctly remembered Mr. Bassout saying those exact same words— _small but important_ —and a part of her didn't know whether to be impressed or a little bothered by her classmate's rote memorization. "Like helping clean up the classroom and take attendance and lead our class to gym and music and art."

"Very good, Evalynd," Mr. Bassout said. "So as I was saying, Leia will be—er, yes, Tylo—"

"I don't get it though," Tylo said. "Why's Leia the class monitor? What'd she do?"

"It was random," Mr. Bassout replied simply. "Now, Leia, why don't you…"

Leia accepted the datapad Mr. Bassout gave her. She tucked Luke's speeder under her arm as she started to read aloud the names—and then she heard some whispering and snickering. She looked up once to see Tylo pointing to the speeder still under Leia's arm, and for some reason, Leia felt annoyed at that.

She shifted Luke's speeder into her hand and gripped it tighter as she finished reading off the names.

Leia dropped herself down to her seat a few minutes later. She set the toy speeder down on her portion of the table, and only a few seconds passed before Evalynd gave her a pointed look.

"What?" Leia asked.

"You're not allowed to have toys out on the table," Evalynd said.

"So?"

"So," Evalynd said in a not-quite whisper, "you should put your toy away."

"You should mind your own business," Leia said in a not-quite-whisper back.

"That's mean."

"Well, stop telling me what to do."

Evalynd's hand shot up. "Mr. Bassout!"

Leia pursed her lips and crossed her arms. She leaned back against her chair, tried to pull the most unimpressed expression she possibly could—this one, she knew she had mastered after years of watching her family members look the same exact way when they couldn't quite believe what someone was saying or doing. Leia figured this was the perfect opportunity to look that way now, because frankly, no matter what Leia's mother said about being compassionate and kind, Leia couldn't quite stand a tattle-tale.

"Yes?"

"Leia has a toy out on the table!"

Mr. Basout blinked. "Well, Leia," he said, turning back around to the board. "You know the rules."

Evalynd gave Leia a triumphant look.

Leia stuck out her tongue.

"Mr. Basout!"

A sigh.

"Yes, Evalynd?"

"Leia stuck out her tongue at me!"

"No I didn't," Leia said automatically.

"Stop misbehaving you two," Mr. Basout only said.

Leia stuck her tongue out at Evalynd again.

\--

Leia found herself sitting under the tree she had climbed with Luke a few weeks before. Somewhere, Luke was off playing with Ezra indoors. Ms. Parat had deemed the weather too gloomy for outdoor recess, apparently, so that left Leia alone with a toy speeder and a few dumb old rocks for company.

It wasn't that Leia _didn't_ have friends. She certainly _had_ friends. But all her friends just happened to be grown up or in a different class.

Leia looked at the rock, and then she looked back up at her classmates. A few of them were busy making little mounds of dirt, while others were hiding amongst the other trees. Mr. Bassout was reading something on a bench.

Leia looked back at the rock.

She floated it towards herself. Wrapped her fingers around the cool rock and smiled, pleased. She was told stories of how she would float toys with Luke when they were babies. She couldn't really remember that much, but she had the strange feeling that she would. There was, in essence, no questioning about it. The trees changed colors, the sun rose every morning, she was Leia Amidala-Skywalker, and this was just something she could do.

Leia set the toy speeder on her lap and with her other hand, floated over another rock. She wasn't sure how many she could hold at once—one time, she had walked into the kitchen to find her father and Auntie Soka floating what had to be at least twenty things at once. She hadn't been able to count it all quickly enough, because her mother had walked in and told them to at least set the cutlery back down.

But Leia held two things in the air now. If she could maybe hold another two more…

"That's against the rules."

Leia looked up to find Evalynd standing in front of her.

"Are you going to tattle on me again?" Leia asked, dropping the rocks.

Evalynd lifted her chin. "I'm not _tattling_ ," she said. "I'm following the rules."

Leia stood up, brushed the dirt from the back of her skirt. "Following the rules is boring," she said.

"Then why are you the class monitor?" Evalynd asked. "Class monitors are supposed to follow the rules."

"Then I'll be a different class monitor," Leia said loftily. She started to walk around the tree, but she heard Evalynd follow her.

"Tylo says Mr. Basout chose you because you probably tricked him."

Leia blinked and turned around.

Evalynd nodded at Leia. "You're one of the Jedi kids," she said. "Like the ones on the holo."

Leia scowled. "The ones on the holo are dumb," she replied, and that much was true. She once accidentally watched a little bit of a holodrama about some dumb Jedi and some dumb senator—Leia thought that it was very silly, because there was too much crying, and her father had taken one look at it and said in a funny voice, "the Force doesn't even _work_ like that—also, they got Yoda's hair wrong—"

"The Force doesn't even _work_ like that," Leia said confidently.

"So you know how to use it then," Evalynd said.

"Does it _matter_?" Leia asked. She folded her arms over her chest. "Sounds like you're just being _nosy_."

Evalynd pressed her lips together. "No I'm not."

"Yeah you are," Leia replied. "It's annoying."

"I'm not annoying!"

"This is annoying," Leia said, unfolding her arms. She turned around, started around the tree again. She heard Evalynd follow again, and Leia tightened her hold on the toy speeder.

"So can you trick people?"

Leia spun around. " _No_ ," she said firmly.

"What about—"

"Why do you keep _asking_?" Leia asked, exasperated.

There was a pause, and then Evalynd said in a small voice, "Tylo asked me to."

Leia looked across the courtyard. Tylo was laughing about something with a few of their other classmates.

Leia frowned.

And then she started stomping over to Tylo. She heard Evalynd scramble behind her, but Leia didn't care. She put her hands on her hips, and as loudly as she could, she shouted, " _Tylo!_ "

Tylo's head snapped up.

Leia stormed over. "Are you too _scared_ to ask me stuff by yourself?"

Tylo blinked. And then, looking behind Leia, he scowled. "Leave me alone."

"Then you have to leave _me_ alone," Leia snapped. "And leave Evalynd alone, too."

"She wanted to know too," Tylo said defensively.

"What _ever_ ," Leia replied, hoping that she got the inflection right. She had only ever heard Auntie Soka say it a few times. "Stop being annoying."

Tylo glared. "I'm _not_ —"

"Yes you _are_ ," Leia said. " _I'm_ the class monitor, and even though I _hate_ it, _you're_ being annoying, and being annoying is _against the rules_." She set her foot down. "So _there_."

With that said, Leia spun around and looked at Evalynd. "And if _you_ want to be the class monitor, just wait your turn," she snapped, and she stormed back to the tree.

\--

"Daddy?"

"Mm-hm?"

"Do Jedi trick people?"

Anakin looked at Leia.

Leia shrugged, looking down at the droid her father was fixing. Swinging her legs over the side of her chair, she said, "Evalynd and Tylo think I tricked Mr. Basout so I could be the class monitor. They said that Jedi can trick people." She looked at Anakin. "So can they?"

Her father had a funny look on his face. He slowly set down the tool he was holding, and sitting down next to Leia, he said, "Sometimes."

Leia's heart sank. She really, really didn't want her stupid classmates to be right. "But _I_ didn't."

"No, of course you didn't," Anakin said. He paused, looked around the workshop. "But sometimes...Force users can trick people." He reached over for a wrench, held it up for Leia. "It's just like anything else though. I use this to fix things, right?"

Leia nodded.

"And that's the _right_ way to use it," Anakin said. "But maybe... _maybe_ , a bad person might come in and try to—" He paused again, and then he knocked the wrench lightly against his knee. "That's not the right way, right?"

Leia shook her head.

"So it's like that," Anakin said. "Sometimes Force users can—"

"So then we're not Jedi?" Leia interrupted.

"Not really," Anakin said.

"But you _used_ to be," Leia said. "And Obi-Wan _is_ , and Auntie Soka?"

"Yeah," Anakin replied. "They're Jedi. And sometimes _they_ might have to trick people because it might _help_ them. If you're a _bad_ Jedi, then you might trick people and hurt them instead." He knocked the wrench against his knee again.

Leia nodded. That made sense.

"It's not like people need to _use_ the Force to hurt or trick people, anyways," Anakin said after a while, setting down the wrench. "People can find other ways."

"Like the time I accidentally kicked Luke off the bed?"

A small smile from her father. "Exactly."

"Huh." Leia turned back to the droid on the ground. She hopped off her chair. "Okay."

\--

"You're the one who's actually tricking people," Leia declared to Tylo the next day.

Tylo blinked. "What?"

"You keep saying fake stuff," Leia said. "So you keep tricking people into _believing_ fake stuff." She crossed her arms. "So _you're_ the one who's tricking people."

"That doesn't make sense—"

"Yes it does!" Leia replied. "It's like the time I kicked Luke off the bed!"

Tylo blinked.

"I mean—" Leia winced, and then she shook her head. "Stop saying fake stuff."

And then she turned around to Evalynd again. And she felt a little bad, because really, she had just been tricked too.

"Do you wanna play?" Leia asked, holding up the toy speeder.

Evalynd hesitated, and then she nodded.

Leia grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you hear Anakin's internal monlogue of 'uhh how do good role model work'? (He's trying, you guys.)
> 
> As always, comments/kudos/subscriptions will be greatly appreciated! Next chapter will be a glimpse into Ahsoka's life!


	3. Blossoms

Ahsoka knew that there were multiple pairs of eyes watching her, but she didn’t really mind. She kept her own eyes closed as she concentrated on the rocks around her. She didn’t need to open her eyes to know that they were slowly turning around her, and with a slight tilt of her head, she felt the rest of the rocks tilt along with the movement. A boring move, she supposed, especially given her audience.

Ahsoka allowed herself a smile and, keeping her eyes closed, she concentrated on bringing down the already fluttering leaves and blossoms of the trees around her. She heard some gasps around her, then some muffled “ _ssh!_ ”s, but she didn’t mind the sound. There had been a time when she had felt a little more self-conscious of her audience, especially in the earlier days, but now…she was a little used to it. And she had learned to appreciate it, because she had been a youngling once, too, who had watched Knights such as herself with a quiet (or not so quiet) kind of admiration.

Ahsoka opened her eyes.

She saw the younglings peeking out from behind the nearby trees. Upon realizing that they had been caught, they all ducked behind the tree trunks with whispers and giggles.

Ahsoka smiled and with a small wave of her hand, pushed the leaves and blossoms to the children. Giggles instantly arose from behind the trees, and then a few small hands reached up to pluck the blossoms and leaves out of the air.

Ahsoka stood up, let the rocks drop around herself.

She walked through the trees and found the younglings clustered there, looking up at her with shining eyes.

“Now,” she said, setting her hands lightly on her hips, “showtime’s over. You all better get going before your crèche master comes along.”

“Yes, Master Tano,” the younglings chorused, and with that, Ahsoka shooed them away.

They all beamed at her—and with little waves and smiles, they stumbled out of the Room of a Thousand Fountains, leaving Ahsoka alone with the trees and the fountains once more.

Well, perhaps she wasn’t _quite_ alone, Ahsoka realized as a figure emerged from one of the other trees.

“Quite the audience you’ve built yourself,” Obi-Wan said, offering Ahsoka a blue-grey blossom.

“Like you haven’t?” Ahsoka asked, twirling the blossom in between her fingers. She shot Obi-Wan a grin to let him know that she was teasing—but she knew that wasn’t necessary, because Obi-Wan was smiling, too.

“Besides,” Ahsoka added, “I had to keep myself entertained _somehow_ , considering that my meditation partner was unusually _late_ this morning.”

“Ah, yes,” Obi-Wan said, bowing a little at the waist. “What _ever_ shall we do about that?”

Tapping her chin, Ahsoka said, “Well…instead of meditation, we _could_ have breakfast. That is, if my meditation partner would _like_ to have breakfast…”

“I believe he would,” Obi-Wan replied, gesturing out the room.

Ahsoka smiled. She followed Obi-Wan out of the room, and brushing the blossom back to one of the trees, she added, “So…dare I ask why you were late?”

“You can dare,” Obi-Wan replied. “I’ve only just gotten off a call with Korkie. He might be visiting soon.”

“Well, if it’s _Korkie_ …” Ahsoka nodded her head to one of the knights they walked past. “I suppose I can forgive that.”

“The forgiveness is much appreciated.”

“Of course,” Ahsoka replied. They rounded a corner, following the faint smell of food. There still weren’t too many people awake just yet, save for the few handful of knights and masters who liked to get up this early. And, of course, some of the younglings who, like the group that had watched Ahsoka, were trying their best to bother their crèche masters. Ahsoka knew that somewhere, Anakin was probably waking up the kids, and Padmé was probably up. Speaking of, Ahsoka knew that she would have to pick the children up from school today…something about Anakin being held up with the new onslaught of clients coming to his workshop, and Padmé, of course, out of the question. (Although there had been a handful of occasions in which Padmé had completely ignored Senate calls just to pick Luke and Leia up from school. Ahsoka figured that the Senate would fear Padmé’s wrath more than the other way around.)

And elsewhere, Ahsoka knew that…well, Ahsoka’s stomach flipped at the end of that sentence. She preferred not to finish that sentence at all, as she now followed Obi-Wan into the dining hall.

“So how’s Korkie and Satine?” Ahsoka asked, ladling eggs onto her plate. She grabbed a few pieces of meat, and satisfied with the assembly of her breakfast, slid to one of the tables.

“They’re doing well,” Obi-Wan replied, sliding into the seat in front of Ahsoka. “They actually just saw Rex off, so he should be coming home soon. Thought you might like to know that.”

Ahsoka grinned. “He told me,” she replied, spearing some eggs. “He told me Mandalore’s been nice this time of year.”

“Depends on your definition of nice,” Obi-Wan commented.

“Well…warmer than here,” Ahsoka said, nodding out the windows. Even though Coruscant technically didn’t have seasons, the atmosphere regulators had still somehow influenced the planet enough into making the weather cooler. A few of the non-Room of a Thousand Fountain trees had started changing color, and Ahsoka had walked past one of the Temple’s courtyards to find younglings throwing themselves into piles of leaves already.

“I rather like the weather here,” Obi-Wan commented. “Although I take your meaning.”

Ahsoka smiled. “It’ll be nice to see Korkie again,” she said. “Will his mother be coming along too?” She meant to drop that last part as an innocent nudge, and Obi-Wan took that opportunity to drink from his tea.

“I’ll take that as a _yes_ ,” Ahsoka said decidedly, cutting into the breakfast meat.

“Yes, well, she’ll be glad to see you too, I’m sure,” Obi-Wan said.

“I won’t be the only one glad,” Ahsoka commented.

Obi-Wan sighed. “You’re becoming as bad as Anakin.”

“To no one’s surprise.”

“Truly,” Obi-Wan said. He leaned back in his seat and added, “But as for other things we should be glad about…”

Ahsoka paused and looked quickly down at her breakfast. “Right.”

They were quiet, and then Obi-Wan said gently, “There’s no need to be nervous, young one.”

 _Young one_ —it had been a little while since Obi-Wan had last called her that, and the term brought a small smile to Ahsoka’s face. She still felt like a _young one_ , even at her own age of twenty-one. Some days, she felt much, much older, and she knew that the Padawans who had grown up in wartime felt similarly. But then again, most of the Padawans Ahsoka had befriended were either still Padawans or Knights themselves, off doing things that were actually required of peacetime.

Other times, though, and perhaps that other time being now, Ahsoka felt like a child still unsure of where her place was in the Order. She wasn’t exactly a traditional Knight, to be sure—Knighted shortly after the war ended, and only after she had decided to rejoin the Order after months and months of consideration.

Five years had passed since then—five years of Ahsoka bearing the _Knight_ title, and still, during times like these, she felt a little bit like that child who had walked out of the ship on Christophsis. Which Ahsoka knew was a little worrying, because _today_ of all days was _not_ the day to feel like that insecure little Padawan.

“Weren’t you?” Ahsoka asked after a little while.

“Most definitely,” Obi-Wan replied. The ease with which he said those words surprised Ahsoka a little, and she blinked up at him.

A corner of Obi-Wan’s mouth twitched. “And I can assure you Anakin felt the same way,” he said. “Though it might take him longer to admit it.”

Ahsoka let out a huff of a breath. “No,” she said. “I know he was. Is.”

“And do you know when…?”

“In a few hours,” Ahsoka said. “After I pick the kids up from school.”

“Soon, then.”

Ahsoka’s heart flip-flopped again. “Yup,” she replied.

Obi-Wan smiled at her again—a full smile this time. “Well,” he said, “I believe I still owe you a meditation session.”

“I was wondering when we were gonna get to that.”

\--

“Auntie Soka!”

Ahsoka looked up in time to see Luke and Leia rip themselves away from their teachers. Their teachers, on the other hand, looked ready to shout after them—but then they saw who it was, and their faces relaxing a little, just nodded when Ahsoka waved. _Just me, no stranger danger_.

“Kiddos!” Ahsoka said, hopping out of the speeder. She had just enough time to open her arms before Luke and Leia pummeled into her. Little arms wound themselves tightly around Ahsoka’s neck, but she didn’t mind. She stood up, supporting both Luke and Leia in her arms. The twins let out identical little cheers as Ahsoka carried them back to the speeder.

“How was your day?” Ahsoka asked, opening the speeder door with her foot.

“Boring!” Leia said, just as Luke said, “Goo _oood_!”

“Well, _that’s_ a contradiction if I’ve ever heard one,” Ahsoka said.

“What’s a contra—” Leia frowned. “ _That_?”

Ahsoka set Luke and Leia down in their seats and reached for the seatbelts. “It’s when you say things that are opposite of each other,” she replied. “Like…if I said that it was raining, and your daddy said that it was sunny—”

“Mommy would tell you to stop goofing around,” Luke said seriously.

“Exactly,” Ahsoka said. “Because we would have been trying to _contradict_ each other.”

Leia frowned. “So _boring_ is the opposite of _good_?”

Ahsoka paused. “Well,” she started, “technically no. But boring seems pretty bad, and _bad_ is the opposite of good, so…close enough.” She headed to the front of the speeder and added, “Actually, ask Uncle Obi-Wan for a better explanation.”

“ _I_ get it,” Leia said loftily, sitting up a little in her seat. “I think I know what contra…” She waved her hand in such a perfect imitation of both Anakin and Padmé that Ahsoka had to laugh a little. “ _Whatever_.”

“ _Whatever_ ,” Ahsoka agreed. “Couldn’t have said it better myself.”

With that, she started up the speeder, and they headed for the Skywalker-Amidala residence.

In the meantime, though, Ahsoka risked a quick glance backwards at the kids. “So,” she said, “what made your days boring? Or good?”

“Ezra and I built a speeder,” Luke said excitedly. “Out of flimsi, but Ms. Parat said that ours was the _coolest_.”

“That’s awesome,” Ahsoka said, looking into the rearview mirror to flash Luke a smile. “Were there colors?”

“Uh-huh,” Luke said. “I chose green, and Ezra chose blue, and we’re gonna try to fly it tomorrow!”

“Awesome,” Ahsoka repeated. “You’ll have to show me if you’re allowed to bring the speeder back home.”

“I said that Ezra can bring the speeder back home to show his parents first,” Luke said. “So you’ll have to wait a little longer, ‘Soka.”

“I can wait,” Ahsoka said lightly. She brought the speeder into another lane, and asked, “Well, Leia? What about you?”

“Mr. Bassout made Evalynd the class monitor,” Leia said, throwing herself dramatically into the seat. Or tried to throw herself dramatically deeper into the seat—since she was already belted in, the effect was more so just Leia hitting her head against the top of the seat, but she didn’t seem bothered by the sudden impact. “So _Evalynd_ had to be boring, and that’s not fun at _all_.”

“I totally agree,” Ahsoka said seriously. “You need your partner in crime.”

“Ex _actly_ ,” Leia said, slamming her hands down on her knees. She craned forward against the seat belt and added, “ _And_ Mr. Bassout brought in a bunch of big kids into class today, and _that_ was even _more_ boring, because they had to give this presen’tion on some dumb butterfly project they were doing.”

“Butterflies are cool,” Ahsoka said. “And I thought you liked them.”

“ _Yeah_ ,” Leia said, “but when the big kids talked about them, it was boring.” She perked up a little. “But Mr. Bassout said that next week, we might start hatching tip-yips!”

“Tip-yips…” Ahsoka tried to remember what they were supposed to be. She was sure that she had seen them at some point or another during her life, but right now, she couldn’t quite picture the bird. Must be domestic if the children’s teacher could help raise them in a classroom setting. “Sounds fun.”

“I’m gonna name mine,” Leia said. “But I don’t know what I’m gonna name it yet.”

“You could name it after ‘Soka!” Luke said excitedly.

Leia made a face, which Ahsoka caught in the mirror. “No way,” she said. “’Soka’s not a _bird_.”

“I dunno,” Ahsoka said, directing the speeder into another lane of traffic. She waved a few speeders forward before adding, “I wouldn’t mind being a tip-yip. Must be a nice life.”

“But then you wouldn’t know _us_ ,” Leia said pointedly.

“ _Very_ true,” Ahsoka said, sneaking her hand behind her seat. She felt both Luke and Leia slap their little palms against it, and with a grin, Ahsoka brought her hand back to the controls. “So fine, Leia—you can name your tip-yip something else.”

“I think I wanna be a tip-yip too though,” Luke said after a little while. “I think it might be fun. You just get to play and eat all day, and then you can _fly_.”

“Tip-yips can’t fly, Luke,” Leia said.

“Why not? They’re birds!”

“I think it’s ‘cause they’re too fat to fly. That’s what Evalynd says, and her uncle’s a farmer.”

So they were _farm_ animals. Ahsoka now pictured a fairly plump, big bird. _Ah_.

“They might be able to fly a little,” Ahsoka said as the Skywalker-Amidala residence came into view. She could already see Threepio tutting around, probably waiting for Luke and Leia to land down. “Just not too far.”

“Maybe,” Leia said, but she didn’t particularly sound like she believed it. Suddenly, she started to perk up. “I think that’s Daddy’s speeder!”

Ahsoka looked. Sure enough, she spotted Anakin’s familiar yellow speeder already sitting at the landing pad. She blinked, surprised. She had thought that Anakin would still be holed up at the workshop, but…still, she couldn’t help but feel a little relieved, although she wasn’t quite sure why.

Well, actually, that was a lie. Ahsoka knew exactly why she was relieved, but all the same.

Ahsoka landed the speeder. “Hold on,” she said, already hearing Luke and Leia try to squirm out of their seats. She reached backwards and unbuckled them both, and she was about to wave the doors open when they opened themselves. Ahsoka managed a little huff of both disbelief and quiet admiration—she didn’t need to ask to know that Luke and Leia had opened the doors themselves.

“Daddy!”

Ahsoka looked up to find Anakin already walking out to the landing pad, wiping his own hands on a rug. Ahsoka noticed that besides that, though, he was mostly cleaner than he sometimes tended to be after spending an entire day in the workshop. He grinned at Luke and Leia, scooped them up in his arms.

“Surprise,” he said over Luke and Leia’s heads to Ahsoka. “I got off earlier than I thought I would.”

“I can see that,” Ahsoka said, pushing herself away from the speeder. “Good work so far?”

“Yup,” Anakin replied cheerfully. “More orders than I can keep track of.” At Ahsoka’s lifted brow, he added quickly, “Just joking. Artoo’s keeping track of them for me.”

As if on cue, Artoo came rolling to the landing pad, making a series of chirps and whistles that Ahsoka could vaguely translate into something about how strange it was to go from carrying top-secret battle plans to now ‘top-secret’ client and order lists.

“Well, I guess there’s really no difference,” Ahsoka said, patting Artoo’s head.

“Well…slight difference,” Anakin said, lowering Luke and Leia to the ground. “C’mon, you two, snacks?”

“ _Yes_ ,” Luke and Leia said enthusiastically.

“Figured,” Anakin said. He took Luke and Leia’s hands and tossed Ahsoka a look over his shoulder. “You coming?”

Ahsoka glanced at the chronometer. She still had some time—maybe an hour, tops.

“Sure,” she replied, and she followed Anakin into the kitchen.

\--

A few minutes later, Ahsoka and Anakin were sitting on the couch, throwing popcorn into each other’s mouths. Luke and Leia were stretched out on the carpet on their bellies, and for a moment, Ahsoka was suddenly reminded of the way they were when they were still babies. Only this time, Luke and Leia’s little legs were slowly kicking at the air as they tried to find the last pieces to put together for a puzzle. (“No, Luke, that one doesn’t belong _there_ , it belongs _there_!”)

And for a little while, Ahsoka was content to just sit there, occasionally offering input on the puzzle and occasionally tossing popcorn at Anakin’s mouth. The flip-flopping in her chest and in her stomach had eased a little bit, but with each passing minute of the chronometer, Ahsoka found herself feeling just a little more…anxious.

Which was bizarre. She had _no_ reason to be anxious.

“You okay?”

Ahsoka looked at Anakin. “Sure,” she replied.

Anakin glanced at the chronometer, and Ahsoka realized that he had actually remembered what today was. And then she felt a little bad, because of _course_ he would remember what today was.

“You look nervous,” Anakin commented.

“I’m not nervous,” Ahsoka said, but she heard the slight lilt in her own voice even as she spoke. She paused and winced at Anakin’s little smirk. “Fine. A _little_ nervous.”

“’Soka’s nervous?” Luke asked, lifting his head from the puzzle.

“No,” Ahsoka said stubbornly, floating a piece of popcorn to Luke. He grinned and caught it with his mouth.

“She looks nervous,” Leia said.

“Hush,” Ahsoka said, floating a piece of popcorn to Leia, too. She took it dutifully, flashing Ahsoka a smirk of her own.

When Ahsoka turned back around to Anakin, she found that her former master wasn’t smirking anymore. He looked a little…pleased, Ahsoka realized. He was smiling a little, and Ahsoka let him smile for a second longer before asking, “What’s the look for?”

“Nothing,” Anakin said, tossing Ahsoka a piece of popcorn. “I just think this’ll be interesting for you.”

“Yeah,” Ahsoka murmured. “I got that.”

Anakin’s expression softened. “You’ll be great.”

“Are you sure?” Ahsoka blurted. “Because I don’t think…” She bit down on her lip and shot a quick look to Luke and Leia. They were still working on the puzzle, but they had stopped talking, and Ahsoka had the funny feeling they were listening. She sighed.

Well, no matter.

“I’m not exactly…I mean, I’m not _traditional_ ,” she said. “I might not—I mean—” Ahsoka let out a frustrated breath. This was the part where she felt like a child again, she realized. “I’ve _taught_ before, but this is…different. Right? Do you know what I mean?”

“Not really,” Anakin said, and Ahsoka groaned, pushing her hands up to her face.

“Hey,” Anakin said, dragging Ahsoka’s hands away. “That’s a good thing.” When Ahsoka looked at him, Anakin shrugged. “No time for me to do any of my own teaching before, remember? It was just Obi-Wan and me most of the time.” A corner of his lips twitched. “He sometimes tried to get me to get along with the other Padawans, but that didn’t always work.”

Ahsoka paused. She had a hard time imagining Anakin as unpopular with other Padawans. But then again, she remembered the first time she had met Anakin—his shock and exasperation, mostly, and Ahsoka had to bite back a smile. Sure, her former master had gotten along with some other Knights and masters—Aayla Secura and Luminara just being some of them, even Master Windu on one or two occasions.

“But _you_ , on the other hand,” Anakin said, sitting up, “you’ll be fine. You’ve got strong foundations.”

Ahsoka relaxed. After a little while, she said, “It’s just…going to be a little different. I don’t know if—” She stopped, puffed out a breath. Looked at Anakin. “I’m going to mess up, aren’t I?”

“Definitely,” Anakin said.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“You’ll mess up,” Anakin said, “ _and_ you’ll be great.”

Ahsoka paused. “You think so?”

“I _know_ so.”

Ahsoka managed to roll her eyes. “Cheesy.”

“Duh.” Anakin tossed Ahsoka another piece of popcorn.

\--

So that was how Ahsoka found herself standing at the entrance of the Room of a Thousand Fountains again. She fiddled with one of the blue-grey blossoms of one of the nearby trees, considered for a moment if it would be silly to offer the blossom to whoever she would be meeting. Ahsoka was about to put the blossom back up to the tree when she decided that maybe she’d keep it instead.

She squared her shoulders and, exhaling lightly, she walked to the center of the room.

There wasn’t anyone else here—she hadn’t expected anyone else to be here, but eventually, she found who she was looking for. Or the several _who_ s.

“Knight Tano,” Yoda said, the edges of his brown eyes wrinkling as he turned to Ahsoka. “Early, you are.”

“Well,” Ahsoka said, turning the blossom in between her fingers, “I’ve learned about the importance of being early.” She lifted her head and looked beyond Yoda.

She found the child—really, a small child, one much smaller than Ahsoka had expected—sitting on the grass. Ahsoka blinked.

The child blinked back. Ahsoka found a pair of brown eyes, probably a shade darker than Master Yoda’s—equally dark, almost black hair tied back in an obviously hurried ponytail at the back of her head.

“To be your Padawan, Initiate Eiko is,” Yoda said now. He looked at the child— _a youngling_ , Ahsoka was tempted to say.

And then the youngling hopped up to her feet. She probably came up to Ahsoka’s ribs. She looked up at Ahsoka with a curiosity that she couldn’t help but have a strange feeling that she’d be witnessing for a good long while.

The two regarded each other for a little while.

And then Ahsoka said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Padawan.”

The child smiled a little. She bobbed her head and then, jerking her chin back up, she said, “I look forward to being your student, Master Tano.”

 _Master Tano_ —that was a new one.

Ahsoka looked at Yoda, who, if Ahsoka didn’t know any better, looked a little amused himself.

“Leave you, I shall,” Yoda said, nodding to Ahsoka and Eiko.

Ahsoka nodded, too, and she noticed the child’s little bob of her head, too.

And in another moment, the two of them were left alone together.

Ahsoka paused. And then she floated the little blossom from her hand.

Eiko’s eyes lit up, and she caught the flower with her hand. When Eiko looked up with those still shining eyes and that slight smile, Ahsoka decided that perhaps _yes_ , this was a good place to start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not going to lie, I hemmed and hawed about this chapter for a little while, because on the one hand, I have no idea how original characters might be received these days, but! On the other hand, I really, really wanted to explore what Ahsoka's own role of being a teacher might be like so ah...here we are. There will be other things we'll be exploring with Ahsoka's new life as a Jedi Knight, of course, and that doesn't *just* mean her being a teacher, but...again! Here we are! (Don't hate me please? Ha, I promise this story will still be very, very primarily focused on canon characters. Next chapter will actually be covering Rex!)
> 
> As always, comments/kudos/subscriptions are greatly appreciated!


	4. Right Track

Rex once thought that he had seen everything the galaxy had to offer. And for the most part, he was still convinced that was true. Compared to the average citizen of the Republic, Rex figured that he _had_ seen more of the galaxy—from the great metropolitan areas of Christophsis to the icy villages of Pantora to the farmlands of Felucia. But really, he had only seen those places in wartime, and Rex was starting to discover that places in peacetime looked very, very different from when they had as battlefields.

And Rex liked that part of his job. He liked re-visiting old worlds and finding cities rebuilt, civilians resituated into their homes. And, in addition to the civilians, now his brothers situated in new homes as well.

Rex looked over the itinerary again. First stop to Aantooine, and then…a quick stop to Felucia, which Rex knew was a little farther out than his other stops, but he had promised someone a visit.

“Anyone in there?”

Rex blinked and turned around to find Cody walking up the ramp of the ship. Cody, like Rex, was wearing civilian clothes—and that was something that Rex, even in the five years, still couldn’t quite get used to. Then again, he felt a little better knowing that Cody couldn’t quite seem to get used to it either. Some habits just didn’t change, like the fact that Cody still tucked in his shirt and Rex kept his hair buzzed, even though they both technically weren’t military anymore.

“Now there is,” Rex replied, setting his datapad down. “You’re early.”

“Surprised?”

“Definitely not,” Rex said. He gestured back to the ship. “You flying this time, or should I?”

“I think I can fly this time ‘round,” Cody replied, sliding into the pilot’s seat. He took the controls and shot Rex a sidelong look. “After all, looks like you’ve been doing most of the flying the last…what, month?”

“Month and a half,” Rex corrected, sliding into the passenger seat. He leaned back, waited as Cody started up the ship. “I’m expecting you to fully fly us around for this entire trip, then.”

“Hey now,” Cody said, and Rex dodged the hand that came his way. “Fine. If something happens to the ship…”

“Lucky I trust you then, isn’t it?” Rex asked, closing his eyes.

A huff from Cody, but Rex took that as a sure sign that Cody did not, in fact, actually mind having to pilot for longer than he might have planned. Rex didn’t think that Cody would have minded at all, actually, especially given that they both knew how Rex had spent the majority of his time flying from place to place.

He didn’t mind the flying—but he had minded the loneliness that came with flying alone. Other than that, though, he still managed to surround himself with familiar faces when he reached the planets. But the flying and the traveling itself— _that_ required more quiet than Rex was used to.

“So,” Rex said, opening his eyes. He found that the ship was already exiting the atmosphere, and the blue sky slowly gave way to the dark. “How’ve things been back at the desk?”

“Same as usual,” Cody replied, clearly ignoring the slight tease. “I might start recruiting some more…interns.” The word sounded funny, being exchanged between Rex and Cody, but Rex knew what Cody was talking about. Even in the clones affairs sector of the government, interns were still…somewhat of a thing. A few rookie clones who had never gotten into the thick of the war wound up going straight into working in clone affairs, which was interesting, according to what Cody told Rex through holograms and comms. And then there were the non-clone _interns_ , most of whom, again, according to Cody, were absolute rookies. Rex wouldn’t have minded working with them, but Cody had once told Rex a story of how one of the interns had somehow mixed up files of some things that clearly weren’t supposed to be mixed.

“ _More_ interns,” Rex mused. “Sounds interesting.”

“It _will_ be,” Cody said, shaking his head. “I swear…”

“Well,” Rex said, folding his hands behind his neck, “you won’t be bored.”

Another huff from Cody. “Fair enough.”

And then they were entering hyperspace, and Rex welcomed the cool blue light as the ship traveled through the stars. He tilted back against the headrest and turned a little so that he could properly look at Cody. Despite the mild complaining from Cody about the state of the interns, Rex knew that his friend wasn’t as high-strung or as annoyed as he was letting on. The lines from his face had reduced, and the ever-permanent furrow between his brows had long since faded away, leaving Cody with a much more open, relaxed look over the course of the long five years.

“And you?” Cody asked, glancing over at Rex. “Anything to keep you from getting bored?”

Rex let out a short laugh, gestured to the ship around them as his only response.

“’Course,” Cody said, a corner of his lips twitching. He crossed his arms and leaned back against the seat. “How have travels been going, anyways?”

“Not as busy as they were in the beginning,” Rex said. “Just check-ins at this point. Not as bad as they were in the beginning, either.” And that had been true—there had been one or two nasty occasions when Rex had to negotiate in situations that he really rather would not have been a part of. But his job demanded it, and he wasn’t about to let any of his brothers down.

“So up first…” Rex passed Cody the datapad. “Aantooine. Ever been?”

“Once,” Cody said. “That was a long time ago, though.”

“It should be a fairly quick stop,” Rex said, taking the data pad back from Cody. “Just a family settling in.” That was another word that felt strange whenever Rex thought of the other clone troopers- _family_. Not just a family of clones, or even a family amongst clones and Jedi, but just. A _family_. There were more clone troopers with families, and Rex had met one or two children who bore an uncanny resemblance to their fathers (and their hundreds of thousands of uncles, most likely).

“Should be nice,” Cody said, grasping the controls again. “Last time I went to Aantooine, it was at last…not that bad.”

Meaning that there hadn’t been an actual battle fought. Rex knew that he would always be able to catch on to those double meanings, even without the war in the background. Those were other things that he just knew that he would never be able to get rid of: just like how he kept his hair shaved and how Cody kept his shirt tucked in, Rex would also still remember where he had fought his own battles, and he would remember which worlds had been the hardest for him to even think about, and he knew the euphemisms tossed between the clones whenever something went wrong.

“No,” Rex agreed. He turned back around to the wash of blue light from the viewer port. “We’ll see what we can get.”

\--

They landed down on Aantooine, and the first thing Rex noticed were the plains. Miles and miles of plains surrounding the city, and in the distance, a mountain range stood under an only partially cloudy sky.

Another thing Rex was discovering about traveling around the galaxy: he had a little more time to actually look around and appreciate at what was around him than not.

“Got the address?” Rex asked, turning to Cody.

“Right here,” Cody said, holding up the datapad.

With that, the two walked out of the ship. The air was cooler than Rex had anticipated, but not cool enough for him to require any more outerwear. He stuck his hands in his pockets and, turning to Cody, asked, “Ever been here?”

“No,” Cody replied, looking around the streets. Rex followed his gaze to where a civilian family was walking into a store. No bombed buildings, no clankers in the street, no acrid smell of smoke or blaster fire. “Did the war ever—”

“No,” Rex replied. “This place was too unstable.”

“Government?”

“No,” Rex repeated. “Something about volcanic activity.” At Cody’s quick look to the mountains, Rex added, “Aantooine’s a big planet. Everyone’s avoided those areas for a while now, but there were some islands that got swallowed up.”

“Well, if it drove the war away…”

“No one wants to fight against the climate,” Rex said. They paused at a street corner, waiting for a line of speeders to pass. “You can imagine the health issues that came out of it.”

“Makes sense why he’s here then,” Cody commented. The two crossed the street. “How long has he…”

Rex tried to think. “A year? Maybe two,” he said. “I think he likes it here.”

And then the two of them were standing in front of a clean white building—a little small, but through the windows, Rex could see that it was neat and tidy. A few picture books and magazines were stacked on a low table, and even from outside the building, Rex could make out the pictures hanging on the wall. His throat closed for a moment.

But then there was movement in the window, and Rex saw a familiar person guiding someone out the door.

“There he is,” Cody said.

Kix saw them right away. He lifted his head, and his face brightening, he waved once to the two before opening the door. “I’ll see you next time, Mr. Sato,” he was saying to the man walking out of the building. “Give me a call if the knee starts acting up again.”

The patient—Mr. Sato—nodded gratefully at Kix. “Don’t know where I’d be without you,” he said, his eyes wrinkling at the edges. And then he looked at Rex and Cody—and if he was surprised, he didn’t show it. He just smiled again, and nodding at them both, he made his way down the street.

The three of them all waited for a full second before Kix said, “ _Well_ , who’s first?”

“Cody,” Rex said.

“ _I_ got my check up last week,” Cody said. “So I think that means _you_.”

“Well, Commander,” Kix said seriously, “I think that means you’re up first, then. Can’t argue with that.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Rex said.

They all stood around for a second with absolutely straight faces—and then, with a laugh, Kix stepped back into the building. “Well, don’t just stand around there.”

Rex and Cody exchanged a quick smile before following Kix into the building.

“Nice place,” Rex commented, looking around the front room. There were a few chairs pressed against the wall, and now that Rex was actually inside the building, he could read the cards and scribbled drawings that could have only been made by children. Rex crouched down to look at one of them: _thank you for fixing mommy’s arm!!!!!_

And above that, a card written in an adult’s handwriting: _thank you for all your hard work! Wishing you a Happy Life Day!_ A small family composed of two women and a little baby beamed from the card.

Rex stepped back. About three-quarters of the wall was covered with the pictures and the cards—too many for Rex to read them all in just a few seconds.

“You’ve got fans,” Cody commented.

“ _Fans_ ,” Kix laughed. “I like the sound of that. But just patients.” He jerked his head back. “You guys want something to drink?”

\--

A little while later, they were sitting in Kix’s office. Rex noted more of the cards and drawings and pictures hanging on the walls here too, but on the wall of the window, there were more photographs of faces Rex recognized. Kix and Fives standing outside 79’s, Jesse flashing a thumbs-up—clearly before getting his tattoo. Tup trying to hide from the camera, pointedly holding a datapad to his face. Hardcase with a finger lifted to his lips as he hovered above—

“You took a _picture_ of that?” Rex asked, pointing to the photo.

Kix looked up from his desk. “Oh yeah,” he said, grinning. “Had to capture the moment.”

“Before the chaos,” Cody mused, looking at the photo.

Rex shook his head, looked at the photo again. He distinctly remembered the time Hardcase had snapped Rex awake on one of their off days. Rex had made Hardcase run a few miles to pay back for it.

“It makes a good story,” Kix said.

“You tell that story to _all_ your patients?” Rex asked. “Or just the ones who have your sense of humor?”

“Who’s to say all my patients don’t have my sense of humor?” Kix asked.

“Wouldn’t be surprised.”

“And speaking of no surprises…” He tugged out his data pad and set it on the desk. “I checked the files you sent over.” He turned the data pad over to Rex and Cody. “And the research checks out.”

Rex looked up at Kix. “You mean—”

“Accelerated aging,” Kix said, tapping the data pad. “We can slow it back down.”

For a moment, they were all quiet. Rex looked down at the data pad, but he couldn’t quite read the letters. His throat closed again, and then he looked over at Cody who, not quite to Rex’s surprise, had a strange look on his face. Rex had a feeling that they were thinking the same thing.

Accelerated aging. Technically, Rex was…eighteen? Eighteen years old, but his body and his brain were older. In another ten years, he estimated that he might look and feel like an old man—and his brothers would all be grey and old too, while all their other friends would still look and feel relatively young. Rex briefly thought of Ahsoka, who would be just barely hitting her early thirties in ten years’ time. He had talked to her over hologram a few days ago—and she had mentioned something about having a Padawan now (which Rex found both amusing and oddly alarming, because he could already imagine the havoc bound to be wrecked now that there was another child in the background). But Ahsoka would be thirty, and Anakin would be in his mid-thirties…Obi-Wan well into his forties (and perhaps less grey, because Rex had noticed that the former general no longer looked as tired or as old as he had during wartime), and the twins merely teenagers.

Rex let out a breath. “That’s…”

“Insane?” Kix supplied. “Yeah.” He looked at Rex and Cody. “Coric and a few other people with the project have already been keeping me updated—but I might go back to Coruscant to help along. Business trips.” He paused. “Not something I thought I would say.”

“And your patients would be…”

“Fine with that,” Kix said. “I’ve already been letting them know that I might be off every few weeks or so.” He lifted his shoulder. “And like you said—they’re my fans. So.” He leaned forward. “Am I on?”

Rex looked at Cody.

They looked back at Kix.

“Well,” Rex said, “Jesse missed you, anyways.”

They grinned at each other.

\--

“Daddy! Rex’s here!”

“And he has a friend!”

Rex grinned as two familiar children ran up to him.

“You’re back!” Shaeeah Lawquane was a little taller than the last time he had seen her, and her lekku were a little longer, but her face was still just as bright as the last few times Rex had come to Felucia. “How long? Who’s your friend? Did you know that more of your friends are on Felucia? We’re neighbors now! And Daddy says that—”

“Daddy says they’re like our family too!” Jek Lawquane, like his sister, had grown a little taller. He was still shorter than Shaeeah, but he was all awkward gangly limbs that told Rex that he probably had many, many more ways to grow. “And he says he thinks there might be more people coming, and they all kinda look like him, which is kinda confusing, but it’s also not? Also, who’s your friend?”

“Let them breathe, you two.”

Rex and Cody looked up to find Cut walking out of his house, an only semi-apologetic smile on his face. Semi-apologetic because Rex had the feeling Cut probably enjoyed watching his children heckle him. But Rex didn’t mind because he was used to the questions by now.

“Finally here,” Cut said, clapping Rex on the shoulder. “Took you long enough.”

“We had some other stops,” Rex said. “Made it, though.” He gestured to Cody. “And I brought a friend.”

“I heard,” Cut said, flashing Cody a quick smile. “Cody? Rex’s told me about you. All good things, don’t worry,” he added at Cody’s quizzical look at Rex. He stuck out a hand, and Cody shook it.

“And _these_ two,” Cut continued, setting his hands down on his children’s shoulders, “are Shaeeah and Jek. My kids.” He squeezed their shoulders. “Go tell your mom that we’ve got company.”

“Jek, tell Mommy that—”

“ _Both_ of you,” Cut chided.

Shaeeah made a face, but the two dutifully ran back into the house.

Cut looked at Rex and Cody. “Kids.”

“Kids,” Cody and Rex echoed.

\--

When Rex told Cut about the research, he was quiet.

“Decelerating aging,” Cut said after a while. “That’s what you’re telling me.”

“Yes.”

Cut was quiet for a little while longer. And then he pushed his hands up to his face, up to his hair. “Oh.”

Somewhere, Rex heard Jek laughing at something Suu said. Shaeeah was still peppering Cody with questions, and Cody, despite the initial confusion, answered them in his usual patient, even tones. Rex turned to find Cut looking around the room, his gaze lingering on each of his children and then Suu.

“I was afraid for a while,” Cut said. “That there might be a time when they’d all be—and I’d be—”

Rex rested a hand on Cut’s shoulder. “It might take some more time,” he said. “But we’re on the right track.”

Cut let out a short breath. It took a moment for Rex to realize that Cut was laughing.

“Yeah,” he said. “Sounds like the right track to me.”

They sat and listened to the children’s laughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, comments/kudos/subscriptions are greatly appreciated!


	5. In the Beginning

Out of all the things Eiko thought she would be doing as Padawan, she didn’t think listening to politicians and business people for hours on end was one of them. Her feet were starting to ache from standing for so long, and in truth, she was focusing more on all the times one of the business people said “preposterous” than anything else. (So far, the businessman to Eiko’s left had said “preposterous” exactly twenty-three times in the last two hours, each time used to describe his feeling for the protests of whatever was going on in this world.)

Next to Eiko, Ahsoka sighed—and Eiko felt a little better knowing that her master was just as impatient and annoyed with the proceedings. But unlike Eiko, Ahsoka was probably actually _somewhat_ listening to whatever was being said in front of her. Eiko had lost track as soon as someone had mentioned scientific jargon that made her head spin. What she _was_ able to glean was that there were some people who were mad about another group of people mining in areas that were apparently zoned off.

Eiko glanced up at her master again. Ahsoka’s eyes were more open than those of some of the people around her, albeit a little weary.

Someone in front of Eiko suddenly slammed a fist on the table.

“ _Enough_ ,” the man said belligerently. “This argument is going _nowhere_. You can’t ignore the fact that the mines are Ispos’ only hope.”

“It is not our _only_ hope,” a woman fired back. “There will be nothing to _hope_ for should all you companies continue digging those _craters_ in the ground.”

“Hardly craters!” someone scoffed from the other side of the room. “Now you just exaggerate.”

“Is the toxification of our atmosphere an exaggeration?” another asked hotly.

“Only a _small percentage_ —”

“That _small percentage_ has been responsible for the death of _thousands_ —”

“Enough,” Ahsoka snapped at last, pushing herself away from the wall. Eiko straightened as her master strode to the center of the room. “Last I checked, my Padawan and I were called to actually aid negotiations, not…whatever this is.” She looked to the first woman who spoke. “Councilwoman Tatham—you said that there was damage to some of Ispos’ cities?”

Ignoring the outcries of a few other men and women in the background, the addressed councilwoman nodded.

“Then I think we should start there,” Ahsoka said evenly.

At that, Eiko jerked up her head.

“Madness,” the first businessman muttered. “Absolute madness.”

“So then you admit that the city is irreparably damaged,” Ahsoka said, turning her sharp gaze on the speaker.

The businessman turned red in the face, but he didn’t say anything.

After a short silence, Ahsoka said, “Either way, I would still like to see the extent of the damage done to the city. And see how much of it we can salvage.”

The councilwoman let out a short laugh. “You’ll be disappointed, I’m afraid.”

“Perhaps,” Ahsoka said thoughtfully. “But in my experience, not all things are completely broken beyond repair.”

Another silence, and then at last, Councilwoman Tatham let out an exasperated sigh. “Why not,” she said. “If the Jedi wants to see for herself, then she’ll see for herself.”

\--

“Nervous?”

Eiko looked up at Ahsoka. “No,” she said quickly. She looked out the viewport of the ship. Even from here, she could see the strange green gas hovering over the city. The whole place looked eerie from this view, and despite herself, something tugged at Eiko’s gut.

“Funny,” Ahsoka mused. “Because I’d be a little nervous.”

Eiko’s cheeks burned. “Well,” she insisted, still looking out the viewport, “I’m not. So you have nothing to worry about, Master.”

Eiko risked a sidelong glance at her master. Ahsoka was smiling a little, though she was looking out the viewport. Her arms were crossed over her chest—loose, casual, and Eiko half-considered crossing her arms over her chest too, but she kept them dangling at her sides. She tugged at her sleeve instead, just for something to do.

“We’re closing in now.”

Both Eiko and Ahsoka looked to Councilwoman Tatham, who turned around in her piloting seat. “I suspect you two don’t actually want to go _out_ there,” the councilwoman said, nodding to the back of the ship. “We’ll just be flying over, but just in case, grab those masks.”

Eiko turned around to where, sure enough, there were masks already waiting for her. She picked them up, passed them to both her master and the councilwoman.

“Is the air that bad?” Ahsoka asked, securing the mask over her face.

“It was worse a few weeks ago,” Tatham replied. “We couldn’t even get a few miles around the city before the gases would sneak into the ship.” Her voice grew cold as she added, “The first people we sent in to fly over are still recovering from the exposure.”

“I see,” Ahsoka said quietly.

“Don’t just see,” Tatham said, directing the ship closer to the city. “Help me do something about it.”

“Believe me, Councilwoman,” Ahsoka replied. “That’s what we’re going to do.” She leaned over the councilwoman’s seat and frowned down through the viewport. “But I think it might take a little more time.”

Eiko looked. She had expected crumbling buildings and abandoned streets and withered trees, but—

From above, Eiko saw movement in the windows of some of the buildings. When she looked closer, she made out—

“Why are there still people here?” she asked, hating the pitch in her voice. She looked at Ahsoka, whose face had turned both sad and angry at once. “Why would—”

“Most of them were able to seal themselves in their homes when the chaos started,” Tatham said. “There’s a mechanism that keeps most of the gas from entering their homes, but they haven’t been able to go out for weeks now. They can’t risk it.”

Eiko looked back down at the houses below.

“Most of them?” Ahsoka asked.

A chill ran up Eiko’s spine.

“Like I said,” Tatham replied, setting her hands over the controls, “it was worse a few weeks ago.”

“How are they getting food?” Ahsoka asked, looking back down at the houses. “Water, basic supplies?”

“Once it was safer, we were able to send in some droids with the supplies,” Tatham said. She readjusted her grip on the controls. “But that requires everyone to actually open the door.”

“And let in the gas,” Ahsoka murmured.

“Minor exposure compared to what they would have faced otherwise, but all the same…” Tatham shook her head. “ _This_ is what we’re facing here, Master Tano. _This_ is our problem, and unless you convince the others to stop drilling this close to our cities, then there will be more people suffering just like this.”

Eiko looked at Ahsoka again.

Ahsoka looked at Eiko once and pressed her lips together.

Eiko didn’t know how to react, so she settled for mirroring the movement.

“Right,” Ahsoka said after a while. “How many other cities are like this? Nearby towns?”

“More for at least another few miles,” Tatham said. “Some better than others. But still not much better.”

“And the actual drilling site?” Ahsoka asked, standing up.

“On the other side of this city,” Tatham replied bitterly. “Right behind a school.”

“They were allowed to drill behind a school?” Ahsoka asked. “The city allowed that?”

“ _They_ allowed themselves. And besides,” Tatham added, “most of the city’s council members live on the other side—they didn’t think they’d be affected by the actual drilling. Or that it would be minor.”

“Understatement,” Ahsoka murmured.

“So now that you’ve seen the damage…”

“Right,” Ahsoka said. She turned to Tatham. “Let’s—”

But before she could finish, the ship suddenly lurched forward, causing all three of them to slam right into the consoles. For a disorienting second, Eiko couldn’t tell what was actually going on, but then her stomach felt funny, and then she heard the alarm blaring overhead, and—

“Move,” Ahsoka said suddenly.

Eiko looked over. Ahsoka was peeling herself away from the console, stumbling backwards. “ _Move_ ,” she repeated. “The ship’s going down.”

Oh. So that explained the funny stomach, Eiko realized as she looked out the viewport. The houses were closing in at an alarmingly fast rate, and Eiko could see more people up close now, saw a family back away quickly from the window as the ship fell forward, and—Eiko saw a little girl hiding behind her mother’s back through one of the windows. Even from where she was on the ship, Eiko could feel that little girl’s fear. Or maybe that was her own.

Eiko swallowed it down, and she turned to Ahsoka, who was hunched over the console.

“They shot out the engine,” Ahsoka said. “Okay. _Okay_. Wonderful.” She muttered something under her breath that Eiko couldn’t quite hear—something about machines, and then Ahsoka was taking hold of the controls, and Eiko felt the ship lurch again, but this time, away from the buildings. Eiko slowly righted herself by grabbing the seat in front of her. They at least weren’t in the way of the buildings anymore, but for the street. It was coming scarily closer now, and Eiko again felt something flip-flop in her stomach as—

“Grab onto something, Councilwoman!” Ahsoka shouted over her shoulder. “It’s gonna be a bumpy landing.” She paused. “Actually, a crash. A crash landing.”

_That’s not a landing!_

“Brace yourselves!”

Eiko only just registered those words before she was suddenly tossed forward again, this time her middle smacking straight into the seat in front of herself. And then there was the awful sound of metal colliding into the ground, and Eiko was tossed forward again, this time slamming straight into the consoles. She felt something scrape against her arm, and judging by the cries around her, Eiko guessed that her master and the councilwoman weren’t faring that much better either.

And then finally, finally, the shuddering and screeching came to a stop, and Eiko smelled smoke and something even more acrid, something that—

Eiko jolted up. “Master,” she started, and she turned. Her heart sank—Councilwoman Tatham was slumped down next to Eiko, blood trickling down from her forehead. _Was she—_

“She’s not dead,” Ahsoka said tightly, sitting up. She reached over to the councilwoman, frowned. “She’s just knocked out.”

“Master…” Eiko started again, but before she could think of what she was going to say next, the whole ship _hissed_.

“Oh,” Ahsoka said.

“Oh?” Eiko asked.

“Oh,” Ahsoka agreed. She got up unsteadily at first, but then, leaning against the wall, she smiled at Eiko. “Listen. Communications should still be working at the consoles. Get to working that—try to work the channel so that we can get some people to extract us from here.”

“Then what about…” Eiko looked past Ahsoka’s shoulder, and she scrambled up to her feet. “There’s—”

“I know,” Ahsoka said, turning around. Some of the green gas was starting to slip into the ship, and Eiko watched in horror as her master stepped closer to it. Then, closing her eyes, Ahsoka reached out, and Eiko watched partially in fascination, partially in fear as the gas retreated.

“I’ll make sure that our ship remains uncontaminated,” Ahsoka said. “You—work those communications.”

“Right,” Eiko said. She turned around quickly, looked down at the controls. Some of them were sparking, but Eiko tried not think about it as she plunged her hands into the control panel. She looked down at the mess of buttons and dials. There had to be something to call…

Eiko heard something hiss, and she turned around to find Ahsoka shoving back against the gas again. More gas coming in this time—not just from one side of the ship, but from the opposite.

Eiko jumped and looked back down at the controls. _Communications_ …

She fiddled with the controls and, after a moment, a spark caused a low light to start on the communicators.

“This is Padawan Eiko speaking,” Eiko said hurriedly. “Our ship has crashed. I’m sending over coordinates now.”

Another hissing sound, and Eiko turned around again.

This time, Ahsoka caught her. “Focus,” she said. “Make sure that message goes through.”

“But—”

“ _Eiko_ ,” Ahsoka said, “I need you to concentrate. Can you do that?”

“I can,” Eiko said. “I _can_ , but I don’t know if—”

Another hiss, and Ahsoka spun around to block off the gas. This time though, just a faintest curl of the gas snuck past Ahsoka, and even with the masks on, Eiko could smell the sulfuric, eye-watering stench that came along with it.

Below her, Councilwoman Tatham mumbled something, her head lolling against the seat. Ahsoka had her hands still extended, her face set in a determined mask. Eiko looked back at the communication channel. At the faint flickering light.

“This is Padawan Eiko,” Eiko tried again. “Master Tano, Councilwoman Tatham, and I have all been struck down. I’ve sent over coordinates. Someone—” Eiko’s voice cracked, and she felt her master’s gaze swing around to her. “Please respond.”

Nothing.

 _Come on_ , Eiko thought. _Come on_ —

“This is Padawan Eiko,” Eiko tried again. “Master Tano, Councilwoman Tatham, and I have been—” Eiko cut herself off with a cry as the controls sparked, and then the last light flickered out.

Eiko stared.

“Okay,” Ahsoka said, “that’s that.”

Eiko turned around. Ahsoka was wearing a grim smile. “So no communications,” she said. “With only our masks, and we’re about halfway through the city. Any plans?”

Eiko looked around the ship just for something to look at other than her master. Because right now, she found that she helplessly, pathetically, absolutely didn’t have any plans. Her face burning, Eiko shook her head.

“Well,” Ahsoka said, “that’s okay.” She turned back around to where the gas was still sneaking its way into the ship. “But I think I have an idea. It’s a bit risky, but it’s something.” She turned around to Eiko and gave her another little grin. “And you might need to do some walking and carrying. Think you can do that for me?”

Eiko blinked. “What do you mean?”

“I think I can hold off the gas long enough for us to walk through the city,” Ahsoka replied. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, and Eiko saw a bead of sweat drip down the side of her master’s face. “It’ll be a bit tricky, but it’s our best chance at getting out of here.”

“But we’re…” Eiko’s whole body felt cold. “You just said we’re _halfway_ through the city.”

“So we’ll walk quickly,” Ahsoka said. “We’ll race.”

Eiko stared. “That’s not how—”

“It’ll be a fun race,” Ahsoka said lightly. “First one who reaches the end of the city gets to decide lesson plans for a week.” She paused. “Or maybe sleep in for a week? Either one sounds good to me. You have your pick if you win. _If_ you win. So you better get moving.”

“Master—”

“Come on,” Ahsoka said, nodding to Tatham. “I’ll even give you a head start, since you’ll be holding on to her.”

Eiko opened her mouth. She wanted to argue. She wanted to argue, but she didn’t have anything else to offer, and she hated that she didn’t have anything else to offer. Cheeks still burning—because she was a _Padawan_ now, she should have more ideas, shouldn’t she? And now her master was about to hold off an entire city’s worth of poisonous gas—Eiko reached down to Councilwoman Tatham.

Holding Tatham up was another ordeal in itself—Eiko crumpled a little bit under the councilwoman’s weight, but after a few moments of struggling, Eiko was able to stand upright. She looked at Ahsoka.

“Ready?” Ahsoka asked.

Eiko nodded tightly.

“Okay.” Ahsoka’s expression faltered for a moment, but only for a moment. Then, with a smile, she said, “One, two…”

Eiko tightened her grip on Tatham.

“ _Three_.”

\--

Eiko dove past Ahsoka, Tatham a dead weight on her shoulders. Almost instantly, she felt the sting of the gases around her eyes—but in another moment, that sting was lifted, and Eiko risked a glance up to see a path clear for her. She turned around once, and she almost stopped.

A few people were looking down from their windows, and Eiko watched as Ahsoka lifted her head to look up at them, too.

Eiko wasn’t surprised when her master suddenly nodded, and with her arms raised, more of the gas cleared—enough of the gas for people to come scrambling down from their homes.

Eiko stared in amazement as more and more of the gas cleared—but then Ahsoka lifted her head, and Eiko saw some of the color leeching from her master’s face.

“ _Go_ ,” Ahsoka mouthed. “ _Go_.”

Eiko paused. She watched as more people came trailing out of their homes, all of them wearing similar expressions of bewilderment and awe. Eiko wondered just how many weeks they had been unable to risk going outside.

“Follow me!” Eiko managed at last. The people looked towards Eiko and she jerked her head back to the path that was slowly clearing. “We’re getting out of here!”

Some shuffling feet, and then Eiko repeated more desperately, “ _Follow me!_ Now!”

And then slowly, agonizingly slowly, the people followed. Heart hammering hard in her chest, Eiko started down the cleared path. The weight at her shoulders seemed to force her deeper and deeper to the ground, but Eiko didn’t look back. She rushed down the streets, quietly begging for her master to hold on just for a little while longer—just a little while longer before they found the city’s main entrance, and then—

Eiko felt movement at her shoulders, and then she heard Tatham’s low moan.

“What…”

“Master Tano’s taking care of the gas,” Eiko managed in between pants. “She’s trying to get us all out.”

“What are you…” Eiko felt Tatham wriggle against her shoulders, and unable to keep her afloat any longer, Eiko let the councilwoman down. “We have to go,” Eiko said desperately. “My master’s holding onto this as long as she can, but she can’t just—”

“Slow down, slow down,” Tatham said, rubbing her temples. “What do you _mean_ your master’s…”

“She’s back there!” Eiko said, gesturing wildly to the back of the city. “So we have to _hurry_ , so I can get her back—” Eiko’s voice cracked, and she hated it for cracking. She hated that she was scared, and she hated that she hadn’t been able to admit it out loud, but she hadn’t wanted to admit it out loud, because she was a Padawan now, and Padawans were supposed to be smart and know how to fix broken communicators and stay cool and collected in times like these, but—

“Just tell me the fastest way out of the city,” Eiko finished. “So that we can get out of here.” _And so that I can get my master back._

Tatham wordlessly gestured.

Eiko nodded, and she ran.

She ran and she ran and she ran, and she felt the gas start to sting her eyes once more, and that was when Eiko started running faster.

“There it is!” Tatham shouted eventually. “Up ahead!”

Eiko looked. Sure enough, she saw the gate to the city, still swinging open from the last time it had been opened. Relief burst in Eiko’s chest, but she didn’t dare let that slow her down.

“Come on!” she shouted over her shoulder. “Hurry!”

She came to a stop in front of the gate, dove to the side so that the others could pass through. “Go!”

The first cluster of people walked through the gate. And then the second, and then the third, and for a moment, Eiko thought that maybe there was still enough time for her to run back to check if her master was still there—she had to still be there, because the gas was still being held at bay, but…

Then the gates slammed shut.

Eiko looked up. “What—”

Tatham swore. “Old mechanism,” she said bitterly, “And there’s no one to fix it.”

Eiko stared. “We can’t just…” She glanced back at the people still clustered behind her. Still waiting behind her, now starting to shuffle uneasily amongst themselves.

“We’re stuck in here,” Tatham said grimly, “Unless someone comes for us.”

Eiko looked back up at the gates. They were tall and towering, and Eiko’s chest felt too tight again.

“No,” she said at last.

And then, raising her arms, she called on the Force.

\--

“Well done,” Eiko heard someone say into her ear.

Eiko opened her eyes.

Ahsoka was standing beside her, looking worn but otherwise safe.

“Master,” Eiko managed.

Ahsoka gestured to the gates. “Shall we?”

Eiko’s throat closed. She just nodded.

They walked through the gates.

\--

In the end, the gathering of all the people from the contaminated city was enough proof to the other council members that the mining corporations had gone too far. Eiko found herself sitting in a hospital wing, letting medical droids draw her blood and test for any excessive toxins. She sat on a bed across from her master, her legs knocking lightly against the bedframe.

“Master?” Eiko asked at last.

“Yes?”

“Did you…” Eiko’s throat was dry, and that had nothing to do with the fact that she had been running through toxic gas. “Ever feel scared? When you were a Padawan?”

Ahsoka smiled. “More than you would think.”

“Really?”

“Of course.” Ahsoka shifted a little against the bed. “Especially in the beginning.”

Eiko tried to imagine her master as a young Padawan. A _scared_ young Padawan. She found that she couldn’t quite imagine it.

“And…did you ever stop?” Eiko asked in a small voice. “Being scared?”

Ahsoka smiled again, this time a little gentler. “I still get scared _sometimes_ ,” she said. She slid off the bed, ignoring the medical droid’s protests. She sat down next to Eiko, and Eiko let her. Eiko wrapped her arms around her middle, looked up at Ahsoka. “ _But_ —and this is a really important _but_ —I don’t let it control me. That’s all there is to it.”

“That’s all?”

Ahsoka let out a small laugh. “Okay, maybe not _all_ ,” she said. She paused again, and then, tilting her head at Eiko, Ahsoka conceded, “It’s a work in progress, like everything in else.”

Eiko let the medical droid take another blood sample.

And then, quietly, Eiko said, “I was scared. At first.”

Hurriedly, she added, “I don’t mean to be. And I don’t _want_ to be, and I’ll try not to be from now on, but—” Eiko cut herself off, bit down on her lip. “I’m trying. I _will_.”

Ahsoka’s face softened. “I know.” She pushed herself off the bed. “Now, come on—I think the droid’s taken enough blood, don’t you?”

“Maybe,” Eiko said, sliding off the bed, “but at least I’m not afraid of blood tests.”

Ahsoka laughed at that.

Eiko laughed too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you somehow got to the end of this chapter, thank you for indulging me in reading from this perspective! As I mentioned earlier, this story is going to rotate between the pattern of Luke, Leia, Ahsoka, Rex (and now Eiko, for just two more chapters, so asfsdfsd bear with me), Padme, Obi-Wan, and Anakin. As this story has 24 chapters, y'all can figure out that we're more than halfway through with the first cycle!
> 
> Next chapter will cover Padme's side of things, and then we'll get to Obi-Wan and then Anakin in the weeks after!
> 
> As always, comments/kudos/subscriptions are greatly appreciated!


	6. Lights

This was what Padmé Amidala’s morning looked like: first wake up, convince her husband that five minutes have, in fact, passed, and that the two of them _did_ have to get up, otherwise Luke and Leia would be late for school, and _they_ would be late for work. Eventually squirm out of bed, stretch. Use the shower first, get dressed, walk into the kitchen to find that Anakin was already making breakfast. Wake Luke and Leia, listen to their stories and their chats. Kiss their heads, wave goodbye to them as she leaves for work.

But today, Padmé Amidala’s morning looked like feeling two pairs of little feet bouncing on the bed and hearing “ _wake up, wake up, wake up!_ ” and seeing Anakin already dressed and awake.

“Daddy says you have to wake up now,” Leia said cheerfully, crashing down to where Anakin would have usually slept. “He says we’ve got a lot to do, and everyone else is awake.”

“Can Daddy speak for himself?” Padmé managed to ask, rubbing a hand over her face.

“No,” Luke said, bouncing a little on the bed. “Daddy says we’re good messengers.”

“Did he now,” Padmé said, looking up at Anakin.

“He did,” Anakin said, beaming. He offered a hand, and Padmé considered it for a moment before letting him tug her out of bed. Or what should have been a mere tug—Anakin pulled Padmé up with a surprising swiftness that ended in laughter.

“So,” Padmé said, “the others?”

“Already awake,” Anakin said cheerfully.

Padmé’s mouth dropped open. She looked to the chronometer. Nearly ten in the morning.

“Hey,” Anakin said defensively, “before you say anything, you _did_ say that you wanted this vacation, and you looked _happy_ being asleep, so…”

“Please tell me that everyone’s still asleep.”

“Everyone’s still asleep,” Anakin said with a straight face.

Padmé sighed and looked to her children, who were not-so-quietly giggling at their mother’s expense. “Is Daddy lying?”

Luke and Leia nodded.

Padmé turned back around to Anakin.

“What?” he asked, a smile tugging at his lips. “You told me to _tell you_ —”

“You’re impossible,” Padmé said.

“Impossibly wonderful?”

Padmé only rolled her eyes, but she gave Anakin a subtle nod to let him know that she wasn’t truly annoyed. She walked out of the bedroom a moment later, wrapping her robe around herself as she went along. In front of her, Luke and Leia had already started stumbling along, their little legs racing each other’s as they made their way into the main room.

“Careful!” Padmé called, but the two weren’t listening—of course they wouldn’t. They liked running around the much larger space that was the lake house here on Naboo, and Padmé’s attempts to get her children to slow down had long since been lost on her.

But a few minutes later, she heard more voices: “ _good morning_ ” and “ _wait, don’t run too fast—_ ” and “ _Rex, the vase_ —”

Padmé walked into the living room to find Rex holding a vase over his head, while Ahsoka and Obi-Wan held Luke and Leia back from what Padmé guessed was nearly ramming into the wall. (That had happened once or twice—Padmé had learned rather quickly that children still getting used to running tended not to know how to slow down or to actually look in front of themselves at all times.)

“Ah,” Obi-Wan said, looking over his shoulder. “Good morning, Padmé.”

“Good morning,” Padmé replied. “Did everyone sleep well?”

Nods and choruses of “yes” all around. Padmé resisted the urge to start smiling again—but then she let go of that urge, because Rex was still holding the vase above his head, and Obi-Wan and Ahsoka were still holding Luke and Leia back.

“That’s good,” Padmé said. “Luke, Leia—get dressed!”

As though flipping a switch, both Luke and Leia let go of Obi-Wan and Ahsoka’s hands and stumbled back towards Padmé and Anakin.

“I’ll take care of this part,” Anakin said, brushing a quick kiss on Padmé’s cheek. “You eat breakfast first.”

“Swimsuits are in the—”

“I know where they are,” Anakin said. He tossed a smile at her over his shoulder, and then he was leading Luke and Leia back to their rooms.

In the meantime, Padmé got out breakfast for herself. She noticed that there had already been cleaned dishes sitting on the counter, dishes that she told herself to put away later. But now, she sat down on the couch, folding her legs from underneath her. “So,” she said, looking to the other three, “where’s everyone else?”

“Morning walk,” Rex replied. “Or so they claim.”

Padmé smiled. “It’s fairly quiet out here,” she said. “I’m sure no one got distracted.”

“Would you be willing to bet on that?” Rex asked.

“Oh, no,” Padmé said lightly. “I’m not brave enough for that.”

“Wise words,” Obi-Wan said.

“Naturally,” Ahsoka agreed.

Padmé shook her head. “And shouldn’t you three be getting dressed?” she asked. “I hope you don’t expect that only the children will be the ones swimming.”

“Don’t enjoy our company?” Ahsoka asked.

“I enjoy your company plenty,” Padmé said, glancing at the chronometer. “But I think I would enjoy your company much more if we were to all hurry and get ready. And I’m sure the twins would enjoy your company a little better if they found that everyone else was ready, too.”

“And you?” Obi-Wan asked, amused.

“I’ll be ready,” Padmé said, waving a hand. She didn’t need to bother explaining that contrary to popular belief, she _did_ know how to get dressed in even her more elaborate clothes without the aid of handmaids. Something that she had quickly learned and excelled since she was a young girl.

“Then we’ll see you later,” Ahsoka said, jumping up from the couch. She had grown noticeably taller since the last time Padmé had seen her, she noticed now. And not just because of the montrals—Ahsoka genuinely seemed to move with a new kind of confidence that Padmé guessed might have had something to do with her own Knighthood finally feeling normal. Padmé was proud.

Padmé waved as the others ducked out of the living room, and she was alone.

She considered checking her data pad for any incoming messages—maybe reply to a few messages, but she decided against it. She was on vacation, and what was more, she was one year older today.

Birthdays were something that she was still trying to get used to. She wasn’t quite sure if there had ever been a time when she actually celebrated them. Being a young queen meant that her birthdays were more so political affairs than anything else, and when she became a senator, there were many birthdays that passed by in which she was more concerned with the matters of the Senate than whether she had become older or not. And when the war happened, things like birthdays felt a little silly—and she had only ever been able to celebrate them with Anakin over hologram or in secret.

But with the war over…with _everything_ finally settling—

Padmé looked around the living room. Even though they had been back at the house for only a day, there were already signs of the place being fully lived in. A few pillows were sprawled out across the floor, and a few drawings were taped to the balcony doors. Padmé smiled, standing up to examine the clumsy drawings of what she guessed had to be friends and family.

She finished her breakfast standing up, set it down on the coffee table. She picked up a few toys that were on the carpet, set them down on the couch. She folded over a blanket and found a little cup of birdseed that had been left on the railing of the balcony. Padmé remembered that the night before, Anakin and Obi-Wan had propped Luke and Leia up on the railing and pointed out the birds that flew down. (Well, Obi-Wan had been the one pointing out the birds. Anakin had just kept Luke and Leia from spilling the birdseed all over the place.)

The sound of laughter and splashing water brought Padmé’s gaze downward. She found familiar faces below: Cody, shaking his head as Jesse and Kix kicked water at each other. Satine was sitting at the edge of the lake, her feet dipped in the water while Korkie was skipping smooth pebbles into the water.

“Ready!”

Padmé turned around to find Luke and Leia looking rather proud in their swimwear.

“That was quick,” Padmé noted.

“We raced!” Luke said. “And I won!”

“Next time, I’ll win,” Leia said.

“We’ll see,” Luke said with such aloofness that Padmé almost started laughing. But at her son’s rather serious expression, she could just nod and give him a serious look of her own.

“Now you,” Anakin said, emerging from the hallway. He wore his own swim trunks, although he had bothered to wear a loose shirt over his top half. He had a few towels slung over his shoulder, and he had sunscreen smudged on his hand from where he must have been trying to get Luke and Leia to wear the stuff.

“Now me,” Padmé agreed.

\--

When Padmé came back out, everyone was ready. Obi-Wan and Rex were patiently untangling Luke and Leia’s goggles from each other, while Anakin was packing the rest of the bags. Ahsoka was tossing her young apprentice a tube of sunscreen, who, frankly, still looked half-awake.

“Everyone ready?” Anakin asked, grinning at them all. “Everyone used the refresher? Yes? No? Speak now or forever hold your peace.”

“Or pee,” Luke said cheerfully.

“Or pee,” Padmé said.

“I think we’re good,” Leia said authoritatively.

“Wonderful,” Anakin replied. With a grand sweep of his arm, he commanded, “Onwards!”

\--

Padmé didn’t remember falling asleep, but she had, apparently, because when she woke up, the sun was a little higher in the sky, and everyone had gotten considerably quieter since that morning. Ahsoka was swinging her legs back and forth in the water, her back stretched against the pier. Rex sat next to her, occasionally flicking water her way.

Anakin, meanwhile, was in the water with Luke and Leia. He occasionally dunk his head in the water, and the children took to his example. They would re-emerge a few seconds later, laughing and spraying water from their hair.

Obi-Wan, Cody, and Satine were gathered on the sand, and they seemed to be discussing _something_ that clearly encouraged debate, because they were all speaking with their hands, which Padmé didn’t think was actually possible of the three.

She stifled a laugh and turned to where the last little group—Jesse, Kix, Korkie, and the youngling Eiko, were sitting atop a tree. Eiko looked both rather proud and intimidated, surrounded by so many older people, but she laughed at the jokes exchanged between everyone.

But then Padmé heard a shout—and she turned to find Ahsoka and Rex both scrambling up to their feet, and then Padmé looked to the lake to find—

Her heart fell.

Anakin, Luke, and Leia were missing.

She ran to the pier. “Where—”

“I don’t know,” Ahsoka said, eyes wide. “They were just there, and then—they haven’t come up—”

Padmé heard footsteps rushing behind her and knew that everyone else had noticed the others’ sudden disappearance.

“How long?” Padmé asked.

“A few minutes now,” Rex replied.

Padmé’s blood turned cold. A few minutes. She knew that Anakin and their children could probably hold their breath for a little while longer than most people, but _still_ …

She felt something slip into her hand, and she looked down at the rebreather. She turned around to Obi-Wan, who gave her a grim nod.

“Come on,” she said.

She didn’t bother waiting for anyone else’s reaction—she dove into the water.

But it turned out that she really didn’t need to worry about anyone else, because only moments later, she felt movement in the water behind her. Sure enough, she had only just started swimming down when she caught the others in the corner of her eye.

But as for Anakin and the children…

Padmé couldn’t see them anywhere.

She swam deeper, ignoring the cold spot she passed. She tried to think of all the times that she had gone swimming in this lake with Anakin. He was a good swimmer. He wouldn’t have…and the children wouldn’t have…she thought of the plants and weeds far below, remembered vague stories of how in other, deeper lakes, people sometimes got trapped.

Padmé pushed away the thought. She couldn’t panic now. Not when her family depended on her keeping calm—

Something moved swiftly past her, and at first Padmé thought that it might be Ahsoka or Obi-Wan or Rex, but then she caught a glimpse of something _flashy_.

Padmé’s heart stopped as she found herself face-to-face with a glowing fish.

 _Oh_.

It was probably the size of Padmé’s head. It bobbed in front of Padmé, and for a moment, she felt herself relax.

But then it opened its mouth, revealing rows and rows of dagger-like teeth.

Padmé jerked backwards, and if she hadn’t had practice, she would have spat the rebreather out from surprise—but before she could say anything, there was another flash of light, and Padmé thought that it might have been another one of the fish, but no, it was Ahsoka, shoving the fish back with a push of her hand.

Under different circumstances, Padmé would have started laughing at how the fish seemed to _roll_ backwards in the water from under Ahsoka’s Force push. But right now, she could just nod in thanks to her friend.

Ahsoka, rebreather still in, set a hand on Padmé’s shoulder. They didn’t need to exchange words for Padmé to know what the gesture meant.

 _We’ll find them_.

They dove down together, and in another moment, Padmé saw the others come around again. Together, they swam deeper and deeper into the murky waters until she could see the weeds at the bottom. Padmé searched the weeds, the cold in her veins becoming steadily realer and realer until—

A sudden burst of light brought Padmé’s attention to another part of the lake.

At first, she couldn’t tell what she was looking at, and again, she wondered if there were just more of those awful fish, but no, these lights were gentler, softer, and as she swam closer, she saw three familiar figures bobbing at the center.

Padmé swam forward just as Anakin, Luke, and Leia lifted their heads. Their faces brightened at the group coming towards them. As Padmé grew closer, Anakin gestured towards his mouth, and she realized that he wasn’t wearing a rebreather—neither were Luke or Leia, and when Padmé reached them, she understood why.

The lights were coming off of certain fish—but they weren’t like the others that Padmé had seen. They were smaller, with fewer teeth. Wider, farther set apart eyes that gave them more of a cross-eyed look than anything else. And farther below, plants. Not the dangerous weeds or the threatening branches, but faintly glowing reeds and grasses that swayed against some current.

Padmé slipped off the rebreather, and she took her first breath.

All around her, she heard the others do the same—quiet gasps of both surprise and relief when they found that this particular part of the lake seemed…breathable.

It was strange, and Padmé couldn’t help but stand in awe of it all—her movements were still slow, weighed down by the water, but when she opened her mouth to speak, she spoke as though they were above the surface.

“ _Anakin_ ,” she said. “What _happened_?”

“Luke saw something funny,” Leia chirped. “And we decided to follow.”

“There were lights!” Luke said defensively, gesturing around themselves. “And I thought it’d be cool…”

“Happy birthday?” Anakin said, looking to Padmé with a semi-guilty smile. Then, ducking down, he plucked up a few of the glowing plants—and Padmé now noticed that amidst the weeds, there had actually been a few glowing puffs, something she could have equated to dandelions on the surface, but…she looked at the glowing plants and looked back up at Anakin.

Anakin grinned sheepishly.

Padmé sighed. “It _is_ nice down here.”

Anakin’s face brightened, and Padmé plucked the little flowers from his hands. “Well? Anything else you three need to show us?”

Luke and Leia bounced (or bobbed) to their feet. “Just watch!”

\--

So it turned out that there were more of these plants and fish in this particular of the lake than Padmé had figured. For almost all her life, she had either grown up or gone back and forth from Naboo to Coruscant to almost every other planet in the Republic, and yet, this was all new. Her children swam in between the glowing plants and the glowing fish, and behind them, Padmé heard conversation slowly settle back in. Guesses at what to call the plants, if they could be called anything at all. Laughter as a fish abruptly swam between them.

“Sorry for making you worry,” Anakin said after a little while. “We were going to come back up and get you.”

“I know,” Padmé said. She looked up at Anakin, giving him a little smile to let him know that she meant it. “ _But_ …” She slapped his arm lightly. “Next time, _please_ warn me?”

“You got it,” Anakin replied. He lowered his hand, and Padmé let their hands fit together the way they always did.

They both looked forward to where Luke and Leia waved cheerfully from their position amongst the plants and the fish. Padmé waved back.

\--

She discovered that the glowing fish actually responded well to music—because when they started up in song, the fish swarmed around them with enough light to make Padmé think that there was a small sun in the water.

The fish guided them all back up to the surface too—or at least, as far as they were willing to go before swimming back to the depths. But that was fine, because they only had a little way to go anyways.

When they resurfaced, the sky was dark except for the stars.

They stretched out on the grass, and Padmé lost track of how many lights there were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, everyone! I only just got back home for the rest of the semester, and the last two days meant sleeping in and feeling a little disoriented, haha. But my semester's coming to an end, so that might mean more time to write! Next chapter, we'll finally get a peek at what Obi-Wan's up to! 
> 
> As always, comments/kudos/subscriptions are greatly appreciated!


	7. Perfect Plans

The first time Obi-Wan Kenobi tried to propose, the building exploded.

He had been oddly ready, though. Forcing both Satine and himself under the nearest shelter had been instinctive for both of them, even despite the fact that they hadn’t had to worry about explosions or blaster fire for nearly five years now. No, for the most part, they had both grown accustomed to peacetime, even though they were both wary of too much quiet and too much darkness.

For a wild second, Obi-Wan had wondered whether there was an attacker nearby—a bounty hunter or another member of a secret terrorist group, but then the owner of the restaurant had stumbled out, tearfully explaining that there had been some kind of accident with the fuse-box.

Obi-Wan hadn’t been quite sure if he believed that—too many sabotages and too many coincidences had left him still questioning the incident, but then Anakin had come down (of course he had come down) and confirmed that “it was just a matter of bad luck”.

“There’s no such thing as bad luck,” Obi-Wan replied automatically now.

“Well,” Anakin said, stepping away from the burnt-out fuse-box, “seems like there is, otherwise you wouldn’t be looking like that.”

“Like what?” Obi-Wan asked, folding his arms over his chest.

“Like you just ate something bad,” Anakin replied.

“Well, the building _did_ just nearly burn down,” Obi-Wan said.

“No, that’s not it,” Anakin replied. He paused, and then, looking over Obi-Wan’s shoulder quickly, he asked in a low voice, “Did you…do the thing yet? Did you…” He started to drop on a knee, but before he could, Obi-Wan yanked his friend back up.

“For the love of— _Anakin_ ,” Obi-Wan said, exasperated.

Anakin grinned, straightening himself. “So that’s a no,” he said.

“ _Again_ ,” Obi-Wan said, “the building _did_ just nearly explode. I’m afraid I didn’t exactly have the time.”

“I would think it’d make your engagement pretty special. Think of all the jokes…it was an _explosive_ engagement—”

“That’s terrible.”

“No, you’re right. You could say that your proposal _blew Satine away_ —”

“Anakin.”

“Too much?”

“Very.”

Anakin grinned. And then, clapping his hand on Obi-Wan’s shoulder, he asked, “Where’s the soon-to-be—”

“Don’t say it—”

“Why?”

Obi-Wan shook his head. “There is a very likely chance that she could say no,” he replied.

Anakin blinked. “ _Her_ , say no?” he asked.

“You’re laughing at me.”

“I’m not—well, fine, maybe a little.” Anakin leaned against the wall by the fuse-box, waving aside the still-lingering smoke. Obi-Wan grimaced and tugged Anakin away, who reluctantly followed. They didn’t speak until they were at least on the other side of the room.

Anakin cast Obi-Wan a sidelong glance. “You can’t seriously think that Satine would say no,” he said. “It’s been—what, five years?”

“And three months,” Obi-Wan murmured. “And a week and a half.”

Anakin stared.

“Just because _you_ forget what month we’re in doesn’t mean that _I_ don’t,” Obi-Wan said, managing to sound at least a little more dignified than he felt.

“Yeah, but _five years, three months, and a week and a half_?” Anakin asked, smirking. “Do you keep track of the hours and minutes too?”

“That’s a ridiculous question.”

“ _Do_ you?”

“Do _you_?”

“Well, _that’s_ a personal question.”

“Glad that we agree on that count, then.”

“ _Glad that we agree_ ,” Anakin mimicked. He rested his head against the wall and looked at Obi-Wan again. “Okay, so five years and three months and a week and a half. Last I checked, the good duchess hasn’t said or done anything that particularly screamed that she hates you.”

“That’s reassuring,” Obi-Wan said.

“I mean it,” Anakin said. “She…” He gestured out the door, to where some of the diners were still clustered on the street. When Obi-Wan looked, he found Satine speaking with the restaurant owner. She had her arms wrapped lightly around her middle, but she didn’t look afraid or even anxious. She looked more concerned for the restaurant owner than anything else.

Then Satine lifted her eyes up, and she waved lightly at Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan waved back.

“See?” Anakin asked triumphantly. “Your date _literally_ blew up in your faces, and she’s still there. Doesn’t seem like someone who would say _no_ to me.”

Obi-Wan dropped his hand. “Maybe.”

“ _Maybe_ …” Anakin shook his head. He started to push open the door. “So are you going to ask her? Tonight?”

Obi-Wan paused. “Maybe not tonight,” he said, managing a wry smile. “I think we’ve been excited enough.”

Anakin shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said. “I think it’d be a terrific way to end the night.”

“ _Anakin_.”

“Okay, okay,” Anakin said, lifting his hands. “You won’t ask her tonight.”

“Thank you.”

With that, the two of them left the somewhat salvageable part of the restaurant. The air was cool and brisk, but some of the residual heat of the restaurant poured out to the street. It came and went, along with that still faintly acrid smell of smoke mingling with whatever had been cooking in the kitchens.

“Fuse-box is all set,” Anakin told the restaurant owner. “I can’t do much about the mess itself, but I might know some people…”

The rest of the conversation drifted as Obi-Wan found himself next to Satine again. Ignoring her protests, Obi-Wan slipped off his own coat—because he was wearing coats now, he had realized with no small amount of confusion—and dropped it over Satine’s shoulders.

Satine just shook her head, but she didn’t complain any further.

“Well,” she just said, smiling wryly. “Quite the interesting night.”

“An understatement,” Obi-Wan replied. He looked once to where Anakin was still speaking to the restaurant owner—who was now looking noticeably calmer, now that Obi-Wan suspected he’d had his rounds of speaking to noticeably less distressed people.

“I’m sorry for how the night turned out,” Obi-Wan said, looking back to Satine.

“You couldn’t have known,” Satine said. She lifted her shoulders, and the movement was a bit awkward and yet not, considering she was wearing Obi-Wan’s coat. “And besides…I would be suspicious if nothing of this sort happened to us sooner or later.”

Obi-Wan managed a small laugh—small enough for just Satine and himself to hear, lest they appear rude to the other still-stunned people around them. “Well, perhaps next time.”

“Perhaps,” Satine replied. She nodded at Anakin. “It was nice of him to come.”

“Yes,” Obi-Wan said. “Well, he’ll never miss the chance to show off.”

“Reminds me of someone I know…”

“I haven’t the faintest idea who you’re talking about.”

“Oh, I’m sure you don’t,” Satine said loftily.

The two exchanged a smile.

And for that moment, Obi-Wan imagined what the next moment would be like if he truly, truly just— _how would he even do it?_ Obi-Wan had played out the scenario in his mind countless times, but none of the scenarios had been on the middle of a street, standing in front of a ruined restaurant. How was he supposed to transition into…it was odd, Obi-Wan realized now. He had always thought that he was good at improvisation—at least, better than most people gave him credit for, and yet now, he couldn’t even piece together whether he should step _away_ or step _in_ , or if he should start with a quick preamble, or would it be better if he just got straight to the point—

“Everything alright?” Satine asked.

Obi-Wan blinked. “Perfectly,” he said. “Why do you ask?”

“You look worried.”

“Do I?” Obi-Wan managed. “Well, we _did_ just have a rather eventful night.”

“Hm.” Satine looked at Obi-Wan for a moment longer. She tilted her head to the side, and after a beat, she asked, “Is there something else on your mind?”

 _She knows_ , Obi-Wan thought.

 _No, she doesn’t know_ , Obi-Wan thought. It would be impossible for her to know.

_Would it?_

“I have plenty of things on my mind,” Obi-Wan said. “One of which being how to get home.”

“Clearly,” Satine said, bemused.

 _She knows_ , Obi-Wan thought.

“Well, I’m sure the guards will be here any moment,” Satine said, walking past Obi-Wan. She rested a hand on the railing, looked down to the traffic below. “I think I actually see them.” She turned back around to Obi-Wan. “And your friend?”

Obi-Wan turned around. Anakin waved once at him—both at him and away, mouthing, _All good_.

“He’ll be fine,” Obi-Wan said decidedly.

“Wonderful.”

And then, right on cue, the guards came up with their speeder.

And that concluded the night.

\--

Obi-Wan never thought he’d see his grandpadawan look at him with so much amusement and sympathy—but Ahsoka was now. She was perched on the edge of the armchair, her hands wrapped around the mug of tea Obi-Wan had given her (as was customary at this point, even after Obi-Wan had left. Some things never change).

“What’s that look for?” Obi-Wan asked.

“I think you know what it’s for,” Ahsoka replied, sipping from her mug. She paused, looked up at him. “I just can’t believe that my flirtatious, suave grandmaster has trouble proposing to a woman he’s known for…years.”

“ _Flirtatious?_ ”

Ahsoka looked at him. “Do you _want_ me to tell you how scarred I am?” She gestured to her face. “See this? This is me, being scarred.”

“You look perfectly fine.”

“I’ve been perfectly scarred, that’s what.”

Obi-Wan sighed, sitting down in the chair opposite Ahsoka. “How much has Anakin told you, anyways?”

“Just the bit that you haven’t proposed to her,” Ahsoka said. “And that you clearly keep a calendar.”

Obi-Wan sighed again.

“Listen,” Ahsoka said after a while. “The situation was probably less than ideal, so no one can blame you for _not_ proposing the other night. But now you need another plan.”

“I _know_ I need another plan.”

“Of course,” Ahsoka said flatly. “Who did I think I was talking to?” She looked at Obi-Wan. “Do you have something in mind?”

“Gardens,” Obi-Wan replied. “It’s where we’ve spent most of our time, both on Mandalore and here.”

“Gardens,” Ahsoka nodded. “That’s good. Quiet. Private. Romantic. Nothing can go wrong.”

“I wish you hadn’t said that,” Obi-Wan murmured.

A corner of Ahsoka’s lips twitched. “I didn’t mark you down as a superstitious person.”

“I’m _not_ ,” Obi-Wan replied. “But I still wish you hadn’t said that.”

Ahsoka laughed. She set her mug down, and making her way to the kitchen, she said, “You’ll be just fine.”

\--

Things did not wind up being fine.

“Well, that’s too bad,” Satine said, observing the heavy rain. Lightning cracked the sky, followed by a deafening boom of thunder. She turned around to Obi-Wan with a sad smile. “I suppose we’ll just go next time, when the weather’s a little better.”

“I suppose so,” Obi-Wan replied. It wasn’t hard for him to sound disappointed—but _how_ disappointed, now that was the tricky part. He stood behind Satine, and he watched both their reflections through the window.

“It’s still a nice view,” Satine said, leaning against the window.

Obi-Wan leaned across from her. “I seem to distinctly remember a time when you hated this view.”

“Well,” Satine said, her lips twitching, “there was too much grey back then.”

Obi-Wan had the feeling she wasn’t just talking about the buildings.

He nodded, his forehead bumping against the window. “And now?”

“Well,” Satine said again. “Now it’s a bit more manageable.” Her breath fogged up the transparisteel.

Obi-Wan reached over, drew a small figure.

Satine smiled. She drew her own.

“This isn’t all that bad, is it?” Obi-Wan asked after a while. He drew a small sun. (What he thought was a sun, anyways. It was a plain circle, really.)

(Satine drew the rays.)

“No,” she said. “It’s not.”

Then, giving Obi-Wan a sidelong glance, she asked, “Did you think that a little bit of rain would ruin the day?”

“Well…” Obi-Wan dropped his hand to his side. “I suppose not.”

“Then what’s the moodiness for?”

Obi-Wan looked at Satine. “Am I? Being moody?”

“Hm…perhaps a little?” Satine stepped forward, slipping her hand into Obi-Wan’s. They fit naturally—Satine squeezed it once. “What is it?”

Obi-Wan paused. He looked down at their hands, and then he looked at her again.

_Is this—is this where he—_

“You see, Satine,” he started. And then stopped. Satine looked expectantly at him.

_You see, Satine, I had a plan, and I don’t think it’s been working too terribly well for either of us so far, so I would like to ask you if you would please—_

Suddenly, there was a loud knock on the door, and Obi-Wan swallowed down his disappointment as Satine turned.

“Who could that…”

And then the guard’s voice came through: “Korkie Kryze, ma’am.”

Satine looked at Obi-Wan, her eyes bright. “Well, that’s a nice surprise. Show him in.”

\--

“I’m _so sorry_ —”

“No, this isn’t your fault,” Obi-Wan said. “You couldn’t have known.”

Korkie bit his lip. “I should have called ahead.”

“It was a nice surprise,” Obi-Wan replied. “We were— _are_ —all pleased that you managed to come earlier.”

“ _Yes_ , but…” Korkie winced. “I’m still sorry.”

“I know,” Obi-Wan said. “And you have nothing to be sorry about.”

They both shook their heads at the ground.

They were both in Korkie’s room, the one he used whenever he dropped by to Coruscant. The moment Korkie had walked into Satine’s apartment, Obi-Wan had noticed how his eyes had darted once to Satine’s and Obi-Wan’s hands, and then he’d given them both a questioning look. Before there could be any miscommunication or horrendous misinterpretations, Obi-Wan had quickly offered to guide Korkie to his apartment.

The moment they had stepped inside, Korkie had spun around and asked, “ _Did she say—_ ”

“I haven’t asked—”

“ _You haven’t asked?_ ”

“Well, I was…” And then Obi-Wan had managed to somehow piece together what his plan _had_ been. Or how his plan had changed. And then—

Korkie now groaned, rubbing his hands over his face. “So what’s the plan now?”

Obi-Wan stopped. “I’m…not quite sure,” he replied honestly. “But I’ll think of something.”

\--

“Uncle Obi-Wan’s sad because he can’t think of anything,” Leia announced.

“Not true,” Obi-Wan said. “Leia, please come down from the window.”

Leia pouted, but she slipped down from the windowsill and sat cross-legged on the rug.

“Why can’t you think of anything?” Luke asked drowsily, rolling over on his stomach. He had only just woken from his brief nap in the speeder, and one side of his face held the mark of the seatbelt. It was a funny look, and Leia giggled a little at it now, but her brother didn’t seem to notice.

“I _can_ think of something,” Obi-Wan replied decidedly. He sat down in front of Luke. “But these things take time.”

“Why?”

Obi-Wan paused. Luke was looking at him very seriously, his blue eyes—very much like his father’s—curious and intent. And also ridiculously innocent.

“When you want to surprise someone—someone you’ve known for a very, very, _very_ long time,” Obi-Wan said after a while, “you want to make sure the situation is just right.”

“Like birthday presents?” Luke asked.

“…something like that, I suppose,” Obi-Wan replied. “But just a little different. You get birthday presents every year.”

“Mommy says that she married Daddy twice,” Leia said, leaning back on her hands. “She says we were there for the second wedding.” She frowned. “I don’t remember it, though.”

“No, you were very little,” Obi-Wan said.

“Hm.” Leia laid down on her back.

They all sighed.

“How do you know you get it right?”

Obi-Wan looked at Luke. “I’m not quite sure,” he replied. And then, very seriously, he added, “I suppose if she says yes.”

“She’ll say yes,” Luke said with much more authority for a five-year-old than Obi-Wan would have imagined.

“Of _course,_ she will,” Leia said, sitting up. “But Uncle Obi-Wan’s being _extra_ careful.” She paused and then added, “ _Too_ careful.”

“There’s no such thing,” Obi-Wan said.

“What’s no such thing?”

Obi-Wan turned around to find Padmé walking out of her room. She was wringing her hair dry with a towel, and with a quick smile at Obi-Wan, she asked the children, “What are you two going on about?”

“Uncle Obi-Wan can’t think of anything,” Leia said.

Obi-Wan just shook his head when Padmé looked at him. His friend only smiled a little more and asked, “Is that true?”

“Your children are having their fun,” Obi-Wan replied. “Making up stories.”

“Mm-hm.” Padmé sat down next to Obi-Wan. “Sounds like interesting stories.”

When Obi-Wan just shook his head again, Padmé said, “So I hear you’re…having trouble?”

“Does everyone know?”

“Only your friends. Which perhaps feels like everyone—which is lucky.”

Obi-Wan softened a little. “Yes, I know.”

Padmé crossed her legs, gesturing for Leia to come near. Leia scowled, but she walked over anyways and sat down, arms folded tightly over her chest. As Padmé undid the knots (for there were many) in her daughter’s hair, she asked, “Worried?”

“Relatively.”

“Why?” Padmé beckoned Luke forward. Luke, with his much shorter hair, didn’t have as many knots, but he liked to be included. She glanced at Obi-Wan. “She loves you, you love her. How difficult could the rest be?”

Obi-Wan looked at his hands.

“Very,” he said quietly.

Padmé paused.

Obi-Wan looked up and gave Padmé an embarrassed smile. “You have to understand,” he said quietly. “These kinds of things…I’m _familiar_ with them, and I’ve _witnessed_ them, but this is—” He halted. “New.”

“And are you afraid of that?” There was nothing judgmental in Padmé’s voice.

Obi-Wan thought for a while. “I’m not afraid,” he said. “Of the _new_ part.”

“But?”

“But…” Obi-Wan’s voice drifted, and he looked at his hands again. If he reached into his pocket, he knew exactly how far he’d have to go to pick out the little object in his pocket. “I would like to get it _right_.”

Padmé looked at him gently. “I think you’ll get it right.”

Obi-Wan managed a brief smile, but that didn’t do much to ease the knot in his stomach.

\--

Another few days passed: and this time, the weather was thankfully nicer, and there weren’t any blown-out fuse-boxes for miles around. Up ahead, the Skywalker-Amidala family was racing ahead to the shops. (Well, Luke and Leia were racing ahead to the shops—Anakin and Padmé were trying to get them to slow down. Ahsoka and Rex were very quietly slipping the children candy that they had bought from the other shops nearby. Korkie kept lingering a second too long at some of the windows, and he had to be pointedly yelled at by Ahsoka to keep up.)

“I didn’t know Coruscant had a market,” Satine said. The tip of her nose was a little pink from the cold, but she didn’t seem too bothered otherwise. She had one arm slipped through Obi-Wan’s, and at one point, their hands had somehow found each other’s again.

“Not like the ones on other worlds,” Obi-Wan replied. “Just some that happen once a season.”

“And have you been to all of them?”

“Over the years,” Obi-Wan replied. He looked at Satine. “You’ve only just always happened to miss them.”

“Well, here I am now,” Satine said, turning to him.

“Here you are now,” Obi-Wan replied. He squeezed Satine’s hand.

She smiled, leaned in close—and Obi-Wan smiled, but then, at the last second, she pointed at one of the shops on his other side. “Look,” she said, as though nothing had happened at all. She looked at Obi-Wan with an innocent smile. “Don’t you think those plants look nice?”

Obi-Wan only looked up at the sky, let out a short laugh. “That was rude,” he said, but he followed Satine to the small stall.

“I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about, my dear,” Satine said.

Obi-Wan shook his head, but he felt lips brush against his cheek a moment later. He looked at Satine, but she was already pointing to one of the small potted plants. “I think I’ll call that one Ben,” she was saying, pointing to a small fern. No, not a fern—the season was much too late for ferns. Some wintery coniferous sapling.

“Why?” Obi-Wan asked.

“No reason,” Satine replied. “But I think it looks like you.”

“Prickly?” Obi-Wan asked, pointing at the needles.

“No,” Satine said, picking it up. “Sturdy.”

“Ah,” Obi-Wan said, nodding seriously. “Thank you for the compliment.”

“You are most welcome.”

Before Obi-Wan could respond, something bumped against him. He knocked into Satine, quickly grabbed her wrist before they could both lose balance—and then he heard a muttered “sorry”, but—something was wrong—

“Are you alright?” Satine asked, glowering at the crowd. “People should look after where _they’re going!_ ”

“I’m fine,” Obi-Wan replied. “Are you?”

“Of course,” Satine said. She shook her head. “Really. _That_ was rude.”

Obi-Wan nodded distantly, but then he stuck his hand in his pocket—and he _knew_ —

“Satine,” he said, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, “I think I saw something. I’ll have to meet you with the others.”

Satine blinked. “What is it?” she asked. “If there’s something—”

“It’s just—” Obi-Wan stopped. “A surprise gift. For…the twins.”

Satine raised an eyebrow. “And I’m not allowed to come see?”

“No,” Obi-Wan said quickly. “The less people know, the better.”

Satine stared at him for a bit. And then, shaking her head, she said, “The twins are lucky to have you, then.” She waved a hand. “Go on.”

Obi-Wan nodded.

As soon as Satine’s back was turned, he bolted through the crowd.

\--

At first, Obi-Wan couldn’t make head or tails of where the pickpocket might have gone—or who the pickpocket might have been. There were too many people, and excitements and anxieties were too high, and for a solid moment, Obi-Wan stood in the center of the market, trying his best not to get bumped into by people.

Too many—

Obi-Wan veered off to the side so that he wouldn’t be in the way of other shoppers. He closed his eyes briefly, trying to grasp for one particular presence—someone who might feel…no, not guilt—exhilaration? But that was _everyone_ during the holidays…especially during the shopping period…

But then—but then, but then, but then—

 _Disappointment_.

Obi-Wan opened his eyes.

Sudden, sharp disappointment, followed by _disgust-annoyance-exasperation_ —and Obi-Wan knew that he had found his person.

He weaved sharply in between the shoppers and stall-keepers, trying to follow the trail the best he could. Tugged on that thread of _disappointment-disgust-annoyance-exasperation_ as he went deeper and deeper into the crowd. The noises were distracting enough, and the sheer amount of other emotions getting tangled in the way, but Obi-Wan tugged at that thread again. It came back sharper, seemed to solidify in Obi-Wan’s mind.

He was getting close.

Closer…

Obi-Wan walked and walked and walked, and then—

He felt a thick arm wrap around his neck, yank him aside. “Thinkin’ about following me?” a voice snarled in his ear.

“How embarrassing,” Obi-Wan only muttered.

And then he twisted around and heaved up his elbow as hard as he could.

His elbow found a chin, his fist found a neck.

There were some shouts all around him, and Obi-Wan felt a little sorry for that—no, _very_ sorry for that, especially as he eyed a few children scattering out of the way—and with that decided factor, Obi-Wan called on the Force to drag his attacker down to the emptier row of stalls—the ones that have long since been vacated.

“I believe,” Obi-Wan said, panting a little, “you have something of mine.”

“’s that valuable?” his attacker grunted. 

“I would like it back,” Obi-Wan said, ignoring the question. “Now, if you please.”

His attacker only snarled, and then Obi-Wan felt a sharp pain to his ribs as he realized that—oh, yes, that was a kick. That was definitely a _strong_ kick, too, because he crashed into one of the empty stalls. More shouting and screaming now, much to his embarrassment.

He steadied himself on his feet, and he was about to launch back at his attacker when this time, he saw a blur of blue and yellow dive past him.

And then—a sharp _crack_ , followed by a, “I _believe_ the gentleman said that you took something of his.”

Obi-Wan blinked and stood up to find Satine standing rather triumphantly over the attacker. Obi-Wan processed the potted sapling—now the cracked, potted sapling—in pieces around the attacker’s head. There was a low groan coming from him now, but Satine didn’t seem to care.

“Satine—” Obi-Wan managed.

“Really,” Satine said, looking at him. “If you were going to get away, then you might as well come up with a better excuse. Now, what did he take?” She ducked down to the attacker’s jacket, patting down the pockets.

“Wait, Satine—” Obi-Wan said weakly. “Don’t—”

But it was too late. Satine stood back up, staring blankly at the little ring in her hands.

It looked plain—really, for anyone else, it might have just been a simple band of silver and blue, but for Satine and Obi-Wan—

“Is this…” Satine stared down at the ring. She looked up at Obi-Wan, eyes wide.

“Same materials out of the palace,” Obi-Wan managed. “And…same material as my lightsaber.” He looked sheepishly at Satine. “I had meant to… _before_ — _so_ many times before—I had a _plan_ , too, and it all went rather miserably, and now…” He gestured helplessly at the ring in Satine’s hand.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “You deserve to know in a…better— _oh_ —”

He didn’t get to finish, because Satine had suddenly pulled him by the coat lapels, tugged him down so that their lips met.

Obi-Wan was distantly aware of some more shouting this time—happier this time, but he didn’t quite care. He felt Satine smile underneath him, heard himself laugh a little.

When they finally parted, Satine was smiling up at him, her eyes brighter than he had ever seen them. “My dear Obi-Wan,” she said, lifting a hand to his cheek, “I would have it no other way.”

\--

(Obi-Wan still proposed. He insisted on it. He realized that Satine was crying, and he realized with a start that he was crying a little too.)

(It turned out that Anakin and the others had actually somehow found their way to them, and apparently, _someone_ had caught it all on tape.)

(This most certainly wasn’t the way how Obi-Wan had imagined the proposal would go, but he supposed he couldn’t plan for everything.)

\--

(Oh, and another thing: Satine said _yes_.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for posting a few hours later than I usually would again! 
> 
> In truth, I kind of fought with myself a lot in whether this was the chapter I wanted to post. Of course, I think Obi-Wan and Satine are worth much more than their own romantic relationships--and not to worry, you'll certainly see more of them in their own life/how they're handling their own lives, but this fic actually started off with me writing this chapter. (I only swapped around the order after ending 'To These Memories' because I realized I wanted some other stories to tell first.) 
> 
> I don't know--perhaps I'm a very sentimental fool, and perhaps I truly am a romantic at heart. (Romance,,,to be honest, is not quite my forte, but! I hope I did...somewhat decently?) 
> 
> As always, comments/kudos/subscriptions are greatly appreciated!


	8. Family Fruits

“Do you have the list?”

“Of course I have the list,” Anakin said, zipping up Luke’s jacket. He looked at Padmé, who just had her arms folded over her chest. “ _I promise_.”

To prove that he did, in fact, have the grocery list, Anakin tugged out the slip of flimsi from his pocket. “Right here.”

“Uh-huh,” Padmé said, arms still folded over her chest. She knelt down, ignoring Leia’s protests as she tied the laces of her daughter’s shoes. “They were too long, sweetie—you’ll trip. And Anakin, there’s something else that I have to—”

“Don’t worry about it,” Anakin replied, standing up. “Rex and I have everything handled—don’t we, Rex?”

Rex—who looked like he frankly didn’t want to be caught in the middle of an argument between Anakin and Padmé, nodded. “We’ll be fine,” he said, though Anakin didn’t miss the apologetic grimace he shot Padmé’s way.

“See?” Anakin said proudly. “Trusty Rex says that we’re fine, so we’re fine. Kids?”

“Fine,” Luke and Leia chorused.

Padmé sighed, then she looked up at Anakin. “But there’s just…on the list—”

“Love you,” Anakin said, swooping down to kiss her cheek. “I promise we’ll be back, and everything will be fine, and I’ll get to tell you that I told you so.”

Padmé paused, gave him a rueful smile. “You say that now…” she murmured, but she waved anyways as Anakin opened the door.

“She’s nervous,” Rex commented once the doors closed behind themselves.

“Always is when this kind of stuff happens,” Anakin replied cheerfully. “Political dinners, stuff like that. She’ll be fine, though. And she’s got the whole _week_ to plan if we mess up…which we _won’t_.”

“Didn’t you send the droids?” Rex asked as they piled into the lift. Luke and Leia fought over who pressed the button first—in the end, Luke won with a triumphant “ha!”

“ _Used_ to,” Anakin replied with a grimace. “But then we found out about some kind of…I don’t know— _thing_ with Threepio. Found it in his memory banks from _way_ back…” He shook his head. “Anyways, I told Padmé that we’ll take care of it ourselves from now on.”

“There was a bad man,” Leia said matter-of-factly. “Who wanted to know about the place Mommy works.”

“And he had a funny hat,” Luke supplied. “But Daddy said that he caught him!”

“That’s right,” Anakin said as the doors slid open. He nudged Luke and Leia forward, careful to make sure they didn’t run into the other residents this time. (Too many bloody noses and stunned residents had taught Anakin to at least wait until the lobby was a little less crowded to let the kids run free.)

“And Auntie ‘Soka said there was this other time…” Leia was saying, and Rex nodded very seriously at whatever the little girl was saying. Anakin grinned, watching Leia tug Rex over to the speeder as she continued with a story that Rex already knew. “And ‘Soka also said that he tried to take her Padawan braid, but she got it back, and wait, you saw ‘Soka’s braid before, didn’t you Rex?”

“I did,” Rex replied.

“Well, I thought it was kinda pretty,” Leia continued. “I thought it looked really small though, and it’s not made out of hair like Eiko’s, since ‘Soka doesn’t have hair. Did you see Daddy with his braid? Mommy says that it looked kinda ugly, but I don’t really believe her.”

“Mommy said it was ugly?” Anakin asked, pretending to sound hurt—when actually, he knew exactly how Padmé felt about the braid. 

“Well, she didn’t say it was _ugly_ ,” Leia said, “but she looks funny when she talks about it.”

Rex coughed lightly as he helped Leia into her booster seat. Luke next.

“Well,” Anakin said, closing the door, “I’ll have you know that Obi-Wan looked _much_ uglier with his braid.”

“Uncle Obi-Wan had a _braid_?”

“Well, of _course_ he had a braid,” Anakin snorted, getting into the driver’s seat. He pushed open the side door for Rex. “He was a Padawan too.”

“I thought Obi-Wan was _never_ a Padawan,” Luke said seriously.

Anakin shook his head at Rex. “You believe this?”

“Traitors, all of them,” Rex deadpanned.

“ _Thank_ you,” Anakin said, turning around to look at his children. They both smiled at him, completely innocent, of course. “You two can get away with just about anything, huh.”

“Yes, Daddy,” they chorused.

“They’ve got you there,” Rex said with a straight face.

Anakin shook his head in mock-exasperation before turning around and starting up the speeder.

And then they were taking off, slipping in between the lines of traffic with the other mid-afternoon fliers. Anakin saw Luke and Leia waving at other fliers before ducking down to laugh amongst themselves. The kinds of things his kids did to entertain themselves…Anakin smiled a little to himself before focusing back on the speeders in front of him.

“So,” Rex said. “List?”

“Right,” Anakin said. He tugged the list out of his pocket and handed it to Rex. “It’s not a whole lot—but it’s specific enough that we might need to check out some more aisles than we usually do.”

“Sounds about right,” Rex noted as he scanned the list. And then, after a second, he asked, “What’s _lamta_?”

Anakin blinked. “What?”

“Lamta,” Rex repeated. He turned the list around for Anakin to see. He tapped the list where, sure enough, Anakin could see the word printed there right in Padmé’s neat handwriting. “She’s got it under the fruit section.”

Of course, she did—because first of all, Padmé had the thoughtfulness to list their groceries out by categories, but second of all—

“Yeah,” Anakin replied, staring back out front. “Yeah. Lamta’s a fruit.”

“Oh—so you know about it?” Rex asked, folding the list over in his hands.

“Yeah,” Anakin said. He switched lanes. “It’s pretty common on Tatooine.”

There’s some quiet at that for a moment.

Anakin knew Rex knew that he had grown up on Tatooine—grew up, at least for the first nine years of his life. He suddenly remembered a small kitchen table, a dimly lit room as calloused hands passed around the round, brown fruit…looking up at a funny-looking man and an angel of a girl sitting in front of him. Back when Threepio was nothing more than a walking pile of wiring.

“Anakin?”

Anakin blinked. He looked at Rex. “Yeah,” he said roughly. “Here.”

\--

The grocery store was busier than it’d usually be—but then again, everyone did their shopping on the weekends. Anakin grabbed a cart. “Okay, guys,” he said, looking down at Luke and Leia. “Cart or no?”

The twins shook their heads, although Anakin knew that sooner or later, one of them would probably make their way either in the cart or in Anakin’s arms sooner or later. He nodded back though, and he took out the list. “So first…we’re checking the frozen section.” He jerked his head down the store. “This way.”

“Can we get ice pops?” Leia asked, skipping alongside Anakin.

“Sure,” Anakin replied.

“Can we get _two_ boxes?”

“Sure,” Anakin repeated. “Go wild.”

Luke and Leia cheered as they headed into the frozen aisle. Anakin swung open the door for them, waited patiently for them to choose out the two boxes. (They were tied between either the fruitier flavors or chocolate. They settled for choosing one of each in the end.)

“And there’s some frozen…” Anakin paused, looked down at the list. Realized he actually didn’t need to be in the frozen section. “Huh.”

“Dairy section,” Rex said, taking the list.

“Right,” Anakin replied. He took hold of the cart again. “Come on—Luke, Leia—”

The children obediently hopped away from the doors and scrambled between Anakin and Rex. Anakin pushed the cart, watched Luke and Leia tug Rex’s hand down so that they could read the list.

“Blue milk,” Luke announced.

“Race you!”

“Wait—”

Leia already dove off. Luckily, the dairy section was empty enough that the children didn’t risk slamming into any strangers. They still somehow managed to rocket themselves all the way to the other end of the diary aisle, both of them hopping up and down for Anakin and Rex to catch up to them.

“I’ll get it,” Rex said, glancing at Anakin.

Anakin blinked. He looked at Rex, and then he realized that he hadn’t actually responded. “All good,” he said, picking up the pace. He noticed Rex folding the list neatly away though, but he pretended to be occupied with keeping the cart straight.

Anakin suddenly remembered Padmé trying to tell him something earlier that day, right before he had gone out of the apartment. She had probably meat to tell him about the lamtas, he realized. But who ate lamtas at political dinners anyways?

Anakin suddenly remembered seeing his mom cutting away the rough skin, handing him the slices in their downtime. He remembered calloused hands, a strand of dark hair falling against a sun-worn face. Quiet, slightly hoarse humming that woke him in the mornings and drifted him to sleep in the nights.

“Anakin?” Rex’s voice was quiet.

“Yeah,” Anakin said, blinking again. He cleared his throat, smiled briefly at Rex. “Are they still waiting?”

“Yeah.” Rex paused and then, pulling the cart out of Anakin’s hands, he asked, “You need a call to make?”

“Not—” Anakin stopped at Rex’s lifted brow.

“With all due respect,” Rex started, and Anakin almost laughed at that—Rex had finally stopped saying _with all due respect_ since the end of the war, and only when he wanted to say something _really_ pointed did he ever actually whip out that old phrase. “I think I, of all people, know when you’ve got someone to call.”

Anakin gave Rex a halfhearted smile. “You ever gonna forgive me for that?”

“Already have,” Rex replied over his shoulder. “Now go make that call. We’ll be in the…”

“I’ll know,” Anakin said.

Rex grinned. He saluted once to Anakin, and Anakin watched Rex reach the twins. They looked curiously Anakin’s way, but he just waved. He would rejoin them in just a second, but Rex was right—he just needed to make a quick call, because he knew he had to get this done.

That was actually something he had been working on in the last five years—the whole _maybe-you-should-talk-about-your-feelings-before-you-jump-to-conclusions_ thing. At least, that was what the person Anakin saw every once in a while, told him. (Anakin had fought against it at first. Former chosen ones didn’t really _need_ to talk about whatever the hell happened to him. In the end, it had been Padmé and Obi-Wan who had both told him to just make an appointment.)

So he waved to Luke and Leia again, just enough to let them know eh wasn’t going anywhere at all. And when they waved back, Anakin couldn’t help but feel an ugly hot spike of shame go right through him. They waved cheerfully, completely ignorant and innocent to whatever ugly pasts might have laid behind their family. So why couldn’t he—

When Rex guided them away from the dairy aisle, Anakin ducked out of the grocery store.

He made his way to the speeder, slipped right into the driver’s seat. He took a single second—and then he called Padmé.

She picked up right away.

“Ani?” Her voice crackled through the comm, but it was her.

“Hi.” Anakin fiddled with the comm. “I—uh—got to the grocery store.”

“You did?” And then, Padmé said, “Wait, but before you go in, I have to tell you that—”

“I know,” Anakin said.

There was a pause.

And then Padmé asked, “Did you see the…”

“Yeah.” Anakin fiddled with the comm some more. “I didn’t even think you knew what those things _were_.”

“Of course I know,” Padmé said gently.

“And you added them to the list because…”

“I know you liked them,” Padmé said. “And I heard from a friend that they were more available in the stores these days…” Anakin heard some shuffling on the other end, and then her voice came again, clearer this time. “It’s not for the dinner, in case you were wondering. It’s just for our family. I figured Luke and Leia might like them too.”

_Oh._

Anakin tilted his head back so he’d be looking at the lines of speeders above him.

“Anakin?” Padmé’s voice was quiet. “Are you still there?”

“Yeah,” Anakin replied, clearing his throat. “Still here.”

He cleared his throat and sat up. “But yeah—they’d probably like them. I was a little…” He tried to search for the right words. Another thing about the whole _let’s-try-to-talk-about-your-actual-feelings-thing_ : he realized that looking for the right words was a lot more difficult than he thought it would be. Looking for the right words when it came to things like leading battle plans, easy. Looking for the right words to describe the fact that he was _sad-surprised-homesick-even-though-that-didn’t-make-sense-because-his-home-was-here-and-tatooine-definitely-isn’t-home-at-all_ was a little more difficult.

“Surprised,” Anakin decided.

“I know—I should have told you before,” Padmé said. “I’m sorry I didn’t.”

Anakin looked back at the grocery store. There were some people walking in, some other families. “Well, I interrupted you. Ran out.”

“I could have called you.”

“I was flying,” Anakin replied, managing a slight smile. “You hate it when I’m talking and flying.”

A beat.

“You’re right, I do,” Padmé said with a weak laugh. That made Anakin feel better. Hearing someone else laugh.

And then, after another moment, Padmé said, “You don’t have to actually get the lamtas if you don’t want to.”

Anakin looked down at his hands. He turned the comm between his fingers, watching that yellow light flicker. “Yeah,” he said. “I know.”

And then, after a beat, he said, “I know why you did it, though. I get it.”

After another moment, he said, “I love you.”

“I love you too, Ani. Hurry back, okay?”

Anakin nodded, and then he remembered that Padmé couldn’t see him. “Okay.”

The call ended, and Anakin looked back at the grocery store. The sky was a little darker, making the inside of the grocery store glow a little brighter. Anakin set down the commlink and, with a sigh, he pushed himself out cof the speeder.

\--

When Anakin stepped into the grocery store, he found Luke, Leia, and Rex already at the produce section. They were pointing out some of the herbs bunched on one of the shelves. Rex tugged Luke and Leia back as water suddenly sprayed over the herbs—but the children laughed, reaching out to touch the spray. Rex didn’t bother holding them back—he just laughed with them as he plucked out a bunch from the top shelf.

Anakin watched Luke tug Rex’s hand down so he could smell whatever he was holding. He grinned as Luke suddenly recoiled, sticking out his tongue.

And then Luke caught Anakin watching, and his face split into a wide grin. “Daddy! There you are!”

And even though Anakin had just been gone for a few minutes, Luke and Leia ran to him as though he had been gone for years. He lowered himself in time to catch them both by the arms. “Did you guys give Rex any trouble?”

“No,” Leia said. “Rex says we still got more stuff to get though.”

“What took you so long?” Luke asked.

“Just talking to Mommy,” Anakin replied. He stood up, slipping each of his hands into the twins’ own.

“ _Oh_ ,” Luke said, nodding as though that made all the sense in the world. For all Anakin knew, it probably did.

“So what else did you guys get?” Anakin asked, letting Luke and Leia lead him over to Rex.

“We got the Jogan fruit,” Leia said cheerfully. “And the shuura.” She pointed to the cart where, sure enough, the green- and yellow-colored fruit sat in the seat. “They’re Mommy’s favorite, right?”

Anakin looked at the fruit and smiled a little to himself. “Yeah,” he said. He remembered something else: sitting in a dining room, floating the fruit. Making a quick joke, exchanging a smile. Feeling warmth creep up to his cheeks and feeling a giddiness that had nothing to do with the fact that he was on Naboo.

“What’s your favorite, Daddy?”

Anakin looked down at Luke. He was the one who had asked.

Leia looked up at him too, clearly waiting for an answer.

Anakin paused.

And then he looked up at Rex, who was subtly shifting the cart away from the herbs. To the other part of the produce section.

There, although Rex hadn’t quite reached it yet, Anakin saw the familiar brown fruit.

Anakin felt something twinge in his chest. More memories swirled around his head—more soft touches, stifling heat. Tired eyes.

But underneath all that—

Family. An old one, one that he didn’t have anymore.

Anakin looked down at Luke and Leia, who were still waiting for him.

Well. Maybe that wasn’t completely true.

“You guys ever heard of lamtas?” Anakin asked. He pointed to where Rex was now slowly parking the cart. “It’s the brown things.”

Luke and Leia looked over, shook their heads.

“Well,” Anakin said, tugging them along with him, “they were a thing from the place I was born.”

He plucked a lamta from the top of the pile, passed it to Luke and Leia. He watched the curiosity unfold on their faces and then, sniffing it, Luke nodded. He gave Anakin a big thumbs-up: approval.

Anakin laughed a little at that. “They’re good,” he said, passing one to Rex. He didn’t miss the slight smile on Rex’s face, or the little nod that he gave him a moment later. “I think you’ll like them.”

—

When they got back, they had lamtas.

Anakin was the one who taught Padmé the best way to cut it open—she rested a chin in his shoulder as he cut away the peel.

It turned out that Luke and Leia _did_ like lamtas—they both announced that shuuras and lamtas were their favorite fruits, and they spent the rest of the afternoon on their stomachs, eating from both plates of fruit as they colored in their books or played with their toys.

Anakin face Rex a bag of the fruits too, which he accepted after some protesting.

“Thanks,” Anakin said. “For making me call.”

Rex’s gaze softened. “‘Course,” he replied.

They left it at that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to type up the last 700 words or so on my phone because the WiFi at my house shorted out, but! Here we are! 
> 
> (Also, yes,,,lamtas are! In fact a thing shown in TPM. And the shuura is that pear thing that Anakin floated over to Padmé in AOTC. Thank you, Wookiepedia.) 
> 
> As always, comments/kudos/subscriptions are greatly appreciated!


	9. Lightsaber Found

Luke remembered how he’d go to the Archives with his uncle sometimes. As a kid—which, according to his dad, he still technically was, even though ten years old felt so much more grown up now—Luke would sit at the big desks and pretend that he was doing some very important research as well. This would last for about ten minutes before getting distracted by something else: a mouse droid, toys, a youngling who was poking around the shelves.

He didn’t go to the Archives as often as he used to, of course. His uncle was a little busier these days, and his aunt could only take him every once in a while, whenever she was back from the missions that she and her Padawan went on. And Luke tried to understand that— _tried_ being the operative word.

“I’m bored,” Luke announced. His words seemed to echo around the living room for a moment, just because there was no one else in the apartment save Leia and himself. Not at all like the clustered, busier space that it used to be. Right now, their parents were out for some meeting—Luke didn’t know what, but Threepio occasionally drifted in and out of the living room just to tell Luke and Leia to _please sit properly_ and _I hope you two aren’t making a fuss_ , although Luke had long since given up trying to appease the droid. He wished that Anakin had at least left Artoo.

“So am I,” Leia replied. She hung from the edge of the couch, holding a magazine upside-down. She, too, had ignored all of Threepio’s wishes. With an annoyed sigh, she dropped it on the carpet.

“We could play hide and seek,” Luke said, picking up the magazine.

“You always hide in the same place,” Leia replied, rolling over on her stomach.

“I won’t this time!”

Leia looked at him.

“I _promise_.” Luke held a hand up to his heart. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”

Leia looked on skeptically for a moment. Then, shrugging, she slipped off the couch. “Fine,” she said. “But if you hide in the closet again…”

“I won’t,” Luke replied, already spinning Leia around. “Now _start!_ ”

“Okay, okay! Bossy,” Leia muttered, but when Luke looked again, his sister had closed her eyes.

Satisfied, Luke ran out of the living room. He ducked into the hallway, made his footsteps lighter as he passed first his bedroom, then Leia’s. Luke considered hiding in his sister’s room—he could try her closet, or maybe underneath her bed. He might even be able to squeeze behind her bookshelf if he held his breath long enough, but Luke remembered that he had hidden there the last two times.

Luke paused by his own bedroom instead, but he realized that his room was similar enough to Leia’s that that wouldn’t make too much of a good hiding spot, either. Then, lifting his head, Luke spied his parents’ room at the end of the hall.

He contemplated the door for a moment.

“Ready or not, here I come!”

Luke jumped—and hearing his sister’s footsteps, he ducked into his parents’ bedroom.

The room was neater than Luke and Leia’s, and it smelled like their parents—like perfume and laundry detergent and scented candles and something underlying all of that that Luke would forever recognize as _home_.

Luke heard Leia’s footsteps come closer. She was going into his room first, he knew. She would only need a few minutes before realizing that Luke wasn’t in his bedroom, and then she would realize that he wasn’t in _her_ bedroom or in any of the guest rooms, so…

Luke ducked underneath his parents’ bed. Sneezed once at the dust and realized that perhaps this wasn’t the best hiding spot.

Luke crawled out of the bed, wiping the dust-balls from his shirt. He looked around the room again. He couldn’t hide under his mother’s vanity, because Leia would find him right away. He contemplated hiding in the refresher, but the refresher was always a little chilly, and he had accidentally watched a scary movie with Ezra a few weeks ago where a scary lady came out of the bathtub, so he decided against that.

Luke turned to the closet. He hadn’t watched any frightening movies of scary people coming out of the closet, and even though Leia knew that he always hid in his own closet…well. This was his _parents’_ room, so technically this was different.

Just as Luke heard Leia’s steps again, he dove into the closet. He closed the door behind himself, grateful for the dim light that hovered above him. He walked deeper into the closet, reaching one hand out to feel along his mother’s dresses, his other brushing against his dad’s tunics. He stepped over a few shoeboxes, a stepstool that Padmé sometimes used to reach a shelf.

Luke made his way to the back of the closet, lowered himself to the ground. He tugged one of Anakin’s cloaks from the hanger and, even though he knew that Leia would probably find him even if he tried to cover himself, dragged the cloak over his head. Luke rested his head on the closet floor, using one part of the cloak as a pillow. He couldn’t hear Leia from this deep in the closet, and he wondered if maybe he would win this round of hide and seek, after all.

Luke shifted against the ground. Maybe he could hide under the rack of Anakin’s cloaks. That would make for an even better hiding place.

Satisfied with the thought, he rolled over to where the majority of Anakin’s cloaks hovered over the ground. Luke laughed a little to himself—just a quiet one as he felt his limbs get all tangled in the blanket with himself. Well, if Leia found him, then she would probably have to help him out of here.

Luke wriggled his head out from the cloak, puffed out a breath and watched one corner of a cloak flutter above him. He dropped his head back down against the ground and managed to squirm one hand out of the cloak. He reached up to scratch his nose, waited.

With a sigh, Luke flung out his arm to the side, promptly hitting his knuckles against the wall.

“ _Ouch_ ,” Luke hissed, dropping his hand. But where he would have felt the carpeted closet floor, Luke hit something solid.

He paused, looked to the side. Maybe a shoebox, but no—the thing he had hit his hand on was smaller than a shoebox. Too thin to hold anything like shoes, too.

Luke frowned.

Sitting up and batting away the cloaks, Luke reached for the box. Under the dim light of the closet, Luke could make out just how long the box was—maybe about the same length as his forearm. Luke set his hand on top of the box, felt the fuzz of dust from what might have been weeks or months or years of being untouched.

Luke flipped the box open just as he heard footsteps near the closet. He didn’t even have time to lay back down before Leia came tumbling into the room.

“Found you!” Leia said, making her way through the shoeboxes and clothes. “You need to find a better hiding place. I think you might have had better luck—what’re you doing?”

Luke held up the box. “Found this in the back,” he said.

“Huh.” Leia sat in front of Luke. “Looks old.”

“Yeah.” Luke set the box down between them.

They looked at each other.

“What are you waiting for?” Leia asked. “Aren’t you gonna open it?”

“I _was_ ,” Luke said. “But you interrupted me.”

“Well,” Leia said, crossing her legs, “I’m not interrupting you now. Open it!”

“Don’t be bossy,” Luke said, but he flipped open the box.

Both Luke and Leia moved at the same time to peer inside. Unfortunately, this meant bumping their heads together, but Luke didn’t mind, because what he was looking at was—

“A lightsaber?”

Luke reached into the box and held up the hilt, eyes wide. He found what he guessed was identical shock on his sister’s face. “ _Leia_ ,” he said, scrambling up to his feet. “Do you think this is Dad’s—”

“Think so,” Leia replied. She picked up the box, flipped it around in her hands. “Doesn’t say anything here, but I don’t think Mom had a lightsaber, so… _wait, you’re holding it wrong!_ ”

Luke startled, nearly dropping the lightsaber, but Leia grabbed it out of his hand in time. She turned it over, handed it back. “If you turned that on, you’d probably cut yourself in half,” Leia warned.

“I wouldn’t cut myself in half,” Luke protested.

“Uh-huh. That was why you were holding it upside-down then?”

Luke flushed. “I would’ve figured it out,” he mumbled, but he made sure that he was holding the lightsaber so that the blade wouldn’t cut into his face if he turned it on. _If he turned it on…_

Luke stepped back. He noticed Leia doing the same and, when satisfied with the distance between them, Luke turned on the lightsaber.

He found that it was easier than he thought it would be.

Luke stared up at the lightsaber—glowing, blue, strangely _warm_ in his hand. Louder than he had expected, too.

“Wow,” Luke whispered.

“Wow,” Leia agreed.

Luke lowered the lightsaber, delighting in the faint humming sound it made even in that slight movement. “I didn’t know Dad actually still had this,” he said. He turned to Leia. “Do you think…”

“He knows that you two are handling something that you shouldn’t? Yeah.”

Luke jumped and turned around to find Anakin standing in the doorway.

“Oops,” Leia said.

Luke agreed. _Oops_.

\--

“You’re lucky that Mom’s not back yet,” Anakin said, tapping the box between them. Luke and Leia sat across Anakin in the living room. Luke sat on his hands and stared down at the box not because he was still interested (although he was) but more because he didn’t want to see the expression on Anakin’s face.

Because Anakin hadn’t said much after coming into the closet save for telling Luke to turn off the lightsaber, and then all three of them had gone into the living room. Leia poked Luke twice—once, Luke had thought it was an accident, but the second time, Luke looked to Leia to find her giving him a pointed _what now?_

“Actually, you guys are just lucky that you didn’t have that thing for long,” Anakin was saying now. “Knew I should have put it on a shelf…”

“We would have gotten it if it was on a shelf,” Leia said.

Luke closed his eyes.

“Not that we would have tried to get it,” Leia said quickly.

“Uh-huh.” Anakin didn’t sound impressed. Then, sighing, he said, “Alright—out with it. Has this happened before?”

“No,” Luke replied, jerking his head up. “It was just…I found it because I was hiding from Leia, and I didn’t want to hide in my room because I _always_ hide in my room, and I thought that maybe I could at least _win_ hide-and-seek this time around—”

“You _always_ hide in the closet though,” Leia muttered.

“—and I was gonna hide under the bed, but it’s _really_ dusty down there, and I didn’t wanna hide in the refresher because Ezra and I watched a scary movie which _please Dad don’t be mad at Ezra because we were just bored,_ and then I thought that maybe the closet was okay because it was bigger, and I _swear_ I didn’t mean to find it, but—”

“Hang on, hang on,” Anakin said, holding up his hands. “I’m not—” He rubbed a hand at the back of his neck. “I’m not _mad_ at you guys.” He paused. “But did you just say that you watched a scary movie?”

“ _Uh_ …”

“He didn’t mean to find it,” Leia said. “And I told him to open the box first. So really, it was all my fault.”

Luke looked at his sister, but Leia was looking expectantly at their father.

Anakin just looked at the two of them. Then, with a sigh, he flipped open the box.

Luke couldn’t help himself—he looked down at the lightsaber sitting at the center. In one swift motion, Anakin picked up the lightsaber, passed it between his hands.

“I’m not mad at you guys,” Anakin repeated quietly. “Okay? _But_ …” He held up the lightsaber, its hilt gleaming under the evening sun. Even though Luke knew that it wasn’t possible, the lightsaber hilt seemed to grow brighter. “But you can’t just take this and play around with it, okay? You can get _hurt_.”

Luke was surprised by the sudden hardness in Anakin’s voice. He had only ever heard it a few times, sometimes when they’d be walking to a store or heading down the street and funny people would ask Anakin things. Luke remembered seeing it when he was much, much younger, and back then, he hadn’t known too much—now, Luke only knew a little more. Not a lot, but sometimes his teacher would say something about a war, and Luke would get funny looks from his classmates sometimes. Luke didn’t really care though, mostly because Leia didn’t, and Luke’s friends didn’t care, and his parents didn’t seem to really care.

“Okay,” Luke said, dropping his head. “We’re sorry.”

“We really are,” Leia added.

The three of them sat in silence. Leia poked at Luke again, and he would have batted her away if he felt a little less guilty for what just happened.

“Okay,” Anakin said at last. “Okay. C’mere.”

Relieved, Luke stood up and made his way to Anakin. He heard Leia close behind him, and when Anakin opened his arms, the two fell right into them.

“I just want to make sure that you guys don’t hurt yourselves,” Anakin said, resting his chin on Luke’s shoulder. “Okay? If you guys wanna see the lightsaber, just ask me.”

“Really?” Luke asked.

“Really, kiddo,” Anakin replied, setting a hand on Luke’s head. “And that goes for the _both_ of you, so that means you have to ask first too, Leia.”

“Fine,” Leia said, but she sounded happy with the arrangement.

Luke closed his eyes, dropping his chin against Anakin’s shoulder. He felt a little less guilty now.

\--

“Dad?” Luke asked later. He hovered at the doorway of his parents’ bedroom again, but this time, only Anakin was there. Luke could hear the shower running. In the end, the story about Luke and Leia finding the lightsaber had come out during dinner, but Luke was relieved that his mother’s only comment was “well…maybe we should have put it on the shelf after all.”

“Mm?” Anakin sat up on the bed. “Something wrong?”

“No,” Luke replied. He shifted his weight from one foot to another, twisted his hands together behind his back. “About what you said earlier? About the lightsaber?”

“Yeah?”

Luke paused. Then, closing his eyes tightly, he asked, “Would it be okay if you showed me how to use it? Just a few times?”

There was a pause. Luke held his breath.

“Why do you wanna learn?”

Luke opened his eyes a crack. “I…don’t know,” he said after a moment. “But I just want to.”

Anakin was quiet. He rubbed a hand behind his neck again. Luke noticed that it was his dad’s gloved hand, the one that Luke knew was just a special hand because some bad man had hurt Anakin before.

“Is that it?” Anakin asked. “Just because you want to?”

Luke hesitated. He shuffled around the doorway, kicked lightly at the carpeted floor. “I don’t know,” he said after a while. “Maybe? Or just…” He lifted his head up to Anakin.

“I want to,” Luke said decidedly. He paused. “And Leia wants to, too, but I just wanted to ask first.”

A corner of Anakin’s lips twitched. “Huh.”

Luke waited. “So…can I?”

Anakin stood up. He walked over to Luke, set his hand on Luke’s shoulder. “Let me sleep on it.”

Luke swallowed down his disappointment. _Sleep on it_ was always grown-up talk for _probably not_ , but still, he nodded.

“Now get some sleep,” Anakin said, rubbing his hand over Luke’s head. “Or you’ll be cranky tomorrow.”

“I’m never cranky.”

“Because I always tell you to sleep,” Anakin said, grinning. “Now _sleep_.”

Luke managed a smile. With that, he nodded and headed for his room.

\--

“Luke, come on kiddo—time to wake up.”

Luke buried his face into his pillow. “Five more minutes…”

He heard a sigh. “Well, I _guess_ five more minutes…but I just figured that you might be interested in today’s big plans…”

Luke managed to lift his head up from the pillow for just a second. He found his dad and Leia waiting for him on the other side of his bed—Leia rubbing a fist over her eyes, Anakin wide-awake. Which was weird, because today was a weekend day, and Anakin almost always slept in on the weekends, but…

Luke blinked. Sitting up, he asked, “What do you mean, big plans?”

“You’ll just have to find out, won’t you?” Anakin asked. He tossed some clothes Luke’s way. “Come on—get dressed. We’ll have something quick, and then we’ll be on our way.”

Luke blinked. He looked down at Leia for answers, but she just shrugged before following their dad out the door.

\--

Luke found Ahsoka leaning against the counter when he walked into the kitchen. She was laughing at something Leia had said, sneaking a handful of blueberries from the box that Anakin had just opened.

“’Soka!” Luke said, running forward.

Ahsoka looked up. “Luke! There you are, sleepyhead.” She pushed herself off the counter, hugged Luke tight. “You’re getting big!”

Luke grinned, looking up at his aunt. “Where _were_ you?”

“I was a little busy,” Ahsoka replied. She flicked his arm. “But you know I had to make a stop here. And your dad wanted me to—”

“ _Sh_ ,” Anakin said, throwing a blueberry at Ahsoka. “Surprises.”

“Surprises?” Luke asked, confused, but Anakin pushed a bowl of oatmeal his way.

“Eat first,” Anakin said. “You’ll find out later.”

Luke shot Ahsoka a puzzled look, but she just winked. Then, turning to Anakin, she said, “Now, c’mon, Skyguy—don’t hog the blueberries. Least you can do for what I just—”

“You’re terrible,” Anakin said, throwing Ahsoka another blueberry. “I said it’s a _secret_ —”

“You’re one to talk—”

\--

Luke stared down at the hilt.

“Really?” he asked, looking at Anakin.

Anakin shrugged. “It’s just a training saber,” he said. “It’ll be a long while before I let you get to the real thing, but…” He grinned. “Yeah.”

Luke looked at Leia, who looked back at him with a wide grin.

Luke looked at Anakin.

“So,” Anakin said, turning on his lightsaber, “you two ready to get started or what?”

Luke grinned, turning on the training saber. “Ready whenever you are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for missing the last few weeks’ updates, everyone! I was a little burned out from the semester, and I think that just kept me from updating regularly for a hot second—but I’m back on track now! 
> 
> As always, comments/kudos/subscriptions are greatly appreciated!


	10. Sleep Alone

Leia was counting the pens on Padmé’s desk when the emergency alarm sounded.

She had counted fifteen so far—she didn’t know that her mother needed so many pens, especially since Padmé did most of her work on a laptop or datapad, and she was about to ask how often she used the pens anyways, but now the lights turned red, and the already closed-doors sounded the lock.

Padmé stood up, frowning up at the lights.

“What’s going on?” Leia asked, sliding off her chair. She looked around the office, at how the red light touched everything differently. She remembered how in school, she had to sometimes hide in the corner farthest from the door of the classroom whenever the lights turned red like this, and her teacher would turn down the blinds before joining them.

Now, Leia watched as metal slid right over the windows, blocking out the sunlight.

“Is this a drill?” Leia asked at last.

Padmé looked down at her. For a moment, she looked worried in the way that Leia knew even her mother could sometimes get worried—drawn eyebrows, clenched jaw.

Then Padmé smiled, although it was quick.

“Not a drill, I don’t think,” Padmé said as though it had just been the speeder door that got locked, not the whole building. If the speeder door had just been locked, that would be when Padmé would roll her eyes at Luke and Leia and call for Anakin that _honey? the keys are inside the speeder again_.

“Then…” Leia looked at the doors. “If it’s not a drill, does that mean that there’s a bad person here?”

Padmé paused. “It might,” she said. She extended her arms, and Leia walked into them. Her mother held her tight, tighter than Leia thought she would.

“It’ll be okay,” Padmé said after a moment, although Leia wasn’t sure if her mother was talking to _her_ or herself. “But for now, Leia, why don’t we get away from the door?”

Leia nodded. So just like school.

“That corner,” she said, turning around. She pointed to the corner at the far right—the one, like in school, farthest away from the door. Farthest away from the windows, too, but looking at the metal block outside, Leia realized that she didn’t have to worry about at least that much.

Padmé smiled. “Okay,” she agreed. “That corner.”

Leia took Padmé’s hand, and the two of them made their way over. But when Leia sat down, Padmé remained standing.

“Just a moment,” she said, fishing something out of her pocket. Leia watched her mother turn on a small communicator—small enough that Leia knew they had to be the special ones that Padmé and Anakin ever told her were made for _work_ , so Leia and Luke weren’t allowed to play with them.

“What are you doing?” Leia asked, watching Padmé fumble with the communicator.

“Going to check on what’s actually happening,” Padmé replied with a quick smile. “Who knows, maybe this _is_ a drill.”

Leia smiled back, but she had a funny feeling now that they would both be disappointed.

Leia rested her head against the wall and looked up at the ceiling. She wondered what Luke was doing now. He was supposed to be at home with Anakin, but now Leia wondered if _they_ knew what was going on here. She ran her fingers into the carpeted floor, thinking of how just this morning, she had been lying on the rug at home, bragging to Luke that she got to go with _Mommy_ to see what _work_ was.

“Captain,” Padmé was saying into the communicator. “What’s the situation?”

“What you would expect, my lady,” the voice on the other end—Captain Typho—replied. “Someone reported an intruder. We’re uncertain where they are for the moment, but it’s advised that everyone stays in their offices. Open the door to no one.”

“Any idea what they’re doing?” Padmé asked. She shot another look at Leia and walked away just a few steps, but it was impossible for Leia not to hear the response.

“The guards say that they caught him with what might have been a few bombs,” Typho replied grimly. “We have a squad already searching the building to see if he already set them down.”

“The whole building…” Padmé murmured. “That could take some time.”

Leia heard a scratching sound.

She frowned, looking down at the floor. She lifted her hand, picked the blue carpet flecks out of her fingers.

Then she paused. She set her hand back down on the carpet and ran her fingers through the surface.

Her fingers didn’t make that scratching sound.

“And what about the others?” Padmé asked. “Are there any senators that are—”

“Those who weren’t in their offices at the time are in the atrium now,” Typho replied. “We have enough security personnel to protect them if this all turns out to be some kind of…”

“Like last time,” Padmé said. “I know.”

Leia heard the scratching again—this time closer, and she stood up.

“Leia, sit down please,” Padmé said, not even looking at Leia.

Leia sat back down, but she heard the scratching—not at the wall or on the floor, but…

She lifted her eyes to the ceiling.

There was nothing there—

Except a vent.

Leia frowned.

“Alright,” Padmé was saying now. “So we’ll hang in tight. Maybe I can find a way to—”

“Mommy?” Leia asked.

“Not now, Leia,” Padmé said over her shoulder.

Leia heard the scratching again—a dull, low _scraaatch_ that made a chill run up her spine.

This time, Padmé heard it too, because she stopped talking.

Padmé spun around, and Leia was yanked back. Leia kept her eyes on the vent, suddenly remembering a story from a while ago. Something about how Ahsoka had once saved Padmé from a scary lady. Something about how the scary lady had crawled through the vents…something about Ahsoka having to do that sometimes too, mostly because she was small enough to do so.

“Captain Typho,” Padmé said, her voice surprisingly even. “I think I need you to transport some papers.”

“My lady?”

“Transport some papers,” Padmé repeated, tugging at Leia’s wrist. The two of them walked backwards steadily, slowly. “It would seem that I overestimated the workload here at the office.”

The scratching was followed by a sudden _thump_ , and Leia felt Padmé’s grip tighten around her wrist.

There was a pause, and then Captain Typho’s voice crackled through the commlink. “Right away, my lady.”

Padmé slipped the communicator back into her pocket. “Leia,” she said in that still-even voice, “could you find my pen, please?”

Leia blinked. “Which one?” She tried to keep her voice in that calm, even way that her mother now spoke in. It was harder than she thought, though—her heart kept beating too fast. Still, she held her head high, squeezed Padmé’s hand.

“The one in my desk drawer,” Padmé replied. “The grey one.”

“Okay,” Leia said. She let go of Padmé’s hand, walked over to the desk. She glanced once at the many, many pens at the top of the desk—she had just been counting those, and now that seemed like that had been hours ago instead of minutes—and she opened the drawer.

At first, Leia didn’t see anything. Just a few highlighters rolling around, a pad of paper.

But when Leia stuck her hand inside and reached, her hand brushed against something cool and…metal.

Leia tugged, and a moment later, her fingers found a handle.

The scratching came again, followed by another two thumps. Closer now.

Leia tugged out a pistol.

She blinked at it, finding her reflection on the surface. The pistol was heavier in her hand than she had expected, and yet, she almost found that natural. Keeping her grip tight around the pistol, she walked back to Padmé and held it out.

“Thank you,” Padmé said. She brought Leia behind herself, her face tilted towards the vent.

“What do you need the pen for?” Leia asked, looking up at the vent too. The scratching and thumping had stopped, and yet, Leia had the bad, bad feeling that whoever was crawling around was far from gone.

“I just need to sign something,” Padmé replied. “You heard Captain Typho—I might need to sign some papers soon.”

Leia nodded, her eyes still trained on the vent. She narrowed her eyes, tightening her grip on her mother’s hand. She looked through the slits, as though if she just stared hard enough, she might find whoever it was that crawled around them now.

Leia blinked.

In the darkness of the vents, she could have sworn she saw something _glisten_.

Leia squeezed her mother’s hand tighter, hard enough to probably hurt, but Padmé didn’t say anything. She wasn’t even sure if her mother saw what she did.

“Mommy,” Leia asked, forcing herself to look away for just a second. “How fast can you write?”

“Fast,” Padmé replied.

“Okay,” Leia said in a small voice. “Can you show me?”

Padmé blinked. “Leia?”

Leia flicked her eyes back to the vent. The something that was glistening was still glistening, but now she could have sworn that it _flickered_.

Or blinked.

Padmé nodded.

So Leia focused back on the vent and _pulled._

Both vent and _someone_ came crashing to the ground a moment later, and Leia found scales, beady eyes—she heard a snarl, the sudden thumping of heavy feet making their way towards her, and then—

Padmé fired.

A bolt of blue light, a stunned cry later, and the intruder collapsed to the ground, tongue dangling out of his mouth.

Both Leia and Padmé sighed.

\--

When Captain Typho took the intruder away, the windows remained blocked and the red lights remained on.

“Just until we clear the entire building,” he had said, and Padmé had nodded to that. Leia had just sat on the couch, swinging her legs and listening to her ankles _thump_ against the surface in time with the blinking lights above her.

Now, Padmé sank into the seat next to Leia.

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Okay,” Leia replied. She looked at Padmé, tucking her hands under her thighs.

Padmé gave Leia a long look. “How are you _really_ feeling?”

Leia looked up at the vent.

“A little weird,” she said. She looked at Padmé. “How come that man was able to come through?”

For a moment, Padmé didn’t say anything.

“Mommy?”

Padmé looked at Leia, and Leia had the feeling that her mother hadn’t really wanted to talk or wanted to have this discussion, period. She had that feeling sometimes—the one about Padmé not wanting to talk about certain things, the same way that Anakin or Obi-Wan or Ahsoka or Rex sometimes didn’t want to talk about certain things.

But now, Padmé smiled. Placing her hand on Leia’s head, she said, “It could have been for a lot of reasons. Maybe the man had help, or maybe that man was just really, really clever.”

“I don’t think it was the second,” Leia said. “If he was cleverer, then he wouldn’t have come here.”

A corner of Padmé’s lips twitched. “I guess you’re right,” she said.

\--

Leia fell asleep on the couch a little while later. She wasn’t sure when she did, but she just remembered resting her head on her mother’s lap, and she remembered her mother’s fingers combing back her hair. She wasn’t sure how long she had been sleeping, but suddenly she heard rapid footsteps, a few whisper-shouted words, and then she was being picked up like she was a little kid again.

“We’re both okay,” Padmé was saying. “She was…she thought on her feet.”

“’Course she did,” Leia heard her father say. He was the one carrying her, Leia registered. “She’s ours.”

Padmé laughed, but Leia heard it catch.

“Padmé…” Leia felt her mom’s hair brush her cheek a moment later, and when she cracked open an eye, she found Padmé’s face buried in Anakin’s shoulder.

Leia watched for a moment, and then she closed her eyes again.

\--

“Was it scary?” Luke asked.

Leia looked up from her datapad.

Luke sat across from her—he was on the floor, Leia perched on the bed. Homework sprawled around them, because for some reason, they seemed to have more of that lately.

Leia didn’t have to ask Luke what he meant by _it_. She saw a blurred version of her face on the screen—blurred because Anakin and Padmé were both weird about having Luke and Leia’s faces on camera, but when Leia showed up to school, her teacher and her classmates already knew.

Leia didn’t feel weird about the others staring at her—they stared at her sometimes anyways, and it wasn’t even as bad as the one time Leia kept a bunch of chairs in the music room from toppling over. Really, it wasn’t even _that_ impressive, because Leia had done cooler things at home before, but still, her classmates and her teachers were still caught off-guard.

“Not really,” Leia said at last. “Just a little annoying.”

She smiled at Luke. “But Mommy and I handled it,” she said. “So it was okay.”

Luke looked at her.

“It _was_ ,” Leia said. She slid off the bed so that she’d be sitting directly across from Luke now. “Listen, that man didn’t stand a _chance_ against us.”

“I know,” Luke replied. “I believe you.”

“Good.”

They were both quiet for a while.

\--

Leia was mostly telling the truth to Luke—she _hadn’t_ been too scared when the man had come. If anything, she had felt…mostly calm, because she had known that her mother was right there, and if her mother was right there, then things had to be okay, but Leia found herself still looking into closets and staring up at the vents right before going to bed.

She told herself that she had no real reason to—there was no one there. Nothing there, nothing that could possibly hurt her.

And still, Leia found herself growing uneasy whenever she heard even the faintest rattle in the vents. The quietest thunk that she knew was probably air traveling through the building.

Leia tugged the covers over her head and tried to fall asleep that way.

\--

Leia woke up a few times in the middle of the night, each time thinking that she had heard something. She looked up at the vent at the end of her room.

There was nothing there—she knew there wasn’t anything there, and yet…

Leia crawled out of her bed, and ignoring the cold floor, padded her way out of her bedroom. The whole apartment was dead quiet, the only actual sounds being the other vents blowing out air, the occasional hum of a speeder that might have been still driving at this time of the night.

Leia reached the living room eventually. The large, wide living room that still filtered light even despite the fact that all the blinds were drawn.

She laid down on the couch and tugged one of the throw blankets over herself. It smelled like her parents, and for a moment, Leia suddenly felt very alone and very homesick even though she knew that she was at home.

Leia dragged the blanket over herself and laying her head down on one of the couch cushions, tried to fall asleep.

She couldn’t sleep though, and Leia spent the next…she didn’t know how long tossing and turning even on the couch. She dragged the blankets tighter around herself and stared up at the ceiling. There were no actual vents here, but she saw the lights from outside play across the surface in a lazy kind of show.

Then Leia heard footsteps. Quiet, barely-there footsteps.

Leia froze, and she looked anxiously to the hallway, already gripping the edge of the blanket as tight as she could, and then—

“Leia?”

Leia sat up.

Padmé stood at the edge of the hallway, her robe gathered tightly around herself. Her face relaxed when seeing her daughter. “Leia,” she repeated. “I thought I heard someone moving around in here. What are you doing out of bed?”

Leia paused. “Nothing,” she said.

Padmé smiled briefly. “Doesn’t seem like nothing,” she said, walking forward. She extended a hand, and despite herself, Leia took it.

Padmé sat down next to Leia. “What is it?” she asked after a while. “Why aren’t you in bed?”

Leia shrugged. “Nothing,” she repeated.

A corner of Padmé’s lips twitched upwards. “Is there an echo in here?” she asked, tapping Leia’s nose.

Leia almost brushed her mother’s hand out of the way—she would have, but the gesture made her feel safe. She sank into Padmé’s side. “Couldn’t sleep,” she said finally. “It’s noisy.”

Padmé’s face softened. “What’s noisy?”

Leia pointed to the vents.

Padmé looked.

“Yes,” she said. “I know.”

Padmé looked back down at Leia. “Well, you can’t just sleep out here—I hope you know that. It’d be too lonely here, and I don’t think it’s too comfortable right now.” She squeezed Leia’s hand. “Why don’t you come with me and Daddy instead?”

Leia lifted her shoulders. “I’m too big,” she said confidently. And too old.

“Oh, Leia,” Padmé said, smiling. She set a hand on Leia’s head. “You’re never too big for your parents.”

Leia paused. She looked down at her mother. Everyone said that she looked more like Padmé than Anakin—and because of that, everyone seemed to always expect Leia to act more like Padmé. Leia didn’t really understand where that assumption came from, because even Padmé said that Leia was so much like Anakin—but right now, Leia realized that she wanted to be a little more like her mother too.

Or maybe, Leia thought, remembering the steady way Padmé had regarded the intruder, she was more like Padmé than she would know for sure right now.

Leia nodded.

Padmé smiled, standing up. She squeezed Leia’s hand. “Okay,” she said, and they walked out of the living room.

They walked into Padmé and Anakin’s bedroom—Anakin still asleep but already rolled over on his side, and Leia wondered if maybe he had known too.

“We have company,” Padmé whispered, and Anakin only mumbled something before rolling away farther. Leaving Leia more room in the already big bed.

Leia scooted under the sheets, and Padmé left the room. Leia wasn’t surprised when Luke came stumbling in a few minutes later, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

“Morning, Leia,” Luke said sleepily, sliding under the blankets next to Leia.

“It’s not morning, dummy,” Leia replied, but she was glad that he had come.

Padmé slipped into the bed a moment later. “Now we’re complete,” she whispered.

Leia looked over to her mother. Padmé smiled and reached over, squeezing Leia’s hand.

Leia squeezed back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes! this story and i am,,,,not dead! i'm so sorry for the late update, friends--the world kind of got....a little topsy-turvy from my end, and it made writing this story just a little more difficult than i anticipated. here's to hoping for good things later! 
> 
> and, as always, comments/kudos/subscriptions are greatly appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> As always, comments/kudos/subscriptions are greatly appreciated! Each chapter will follow the perspective of eight different character, and it'll be rotated. (I've got Luke, Leia, Anakin, Ahsoka, Padme, Rex, Obi-Wan, and a bonus character that I'm still keeping quiet about for now. We shall see!)
> 
> I can also be found on [tumblr!](https://katierosefun.tumblr.com/)


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